


It Feels Like I'm Fallin'

by RogueTiger



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alpha!Waverly Earp, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Champ will not be a total dick, F/F, Follows cannon for now, G!P, G!P Waverly Earp, Girl Penis, Girl Penis Waverly Earp, Omega!Nicole Haught, Penis In Vagina Sex, Penis in Vagina sex between 2 women, magic penis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:53:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27196762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RogueTiger/pseuds/RogueTiger
Summary: READ THE TAGS! If G!P stories are not your thing, there are other stories to read. So, if you see anything you don't like there, don't come into the comments complaining about it, it won't work and I will just delete your comments.Waverly has tried to blend in her whole life despite the curse attached to her name. She has a good, if sometimes neglectful, beta boyfriend and a job tending bar at Shorty's. When her Uncle dies, it brings her sister back to Purgatory and everything starts to feel like it is spinning out of control.And then a beautiful omega, the new Sheriff's Deputy, Nicole Haught walks into the bar and creates a centre of peace for Waverly even as she unleashes a whirlpool of emotions and questions that challenge Waverly's belief in her own sexuality and what she wants... who she wants, in her life.Note - This story takes place in my version of an Alpha/Beta/Omega story. As such, during a rut, a female Alpha (in this case Waverly) develops a penis during them.Consent is important in life and in my stories and there will be no alphas or omegas out of control because of their hormones. I have nothing against those stories, it is just not what I am writing.
Relationships: Background Waverly Earp/Champ Hardy, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught
Comments: 147
Kudos: 585





	1. Keep the Home Fires Burning

**Author's Note:**

> **AN's - Huge shout out to my beta, GetItGirl who has been kind enough to help me with that pesky grammar stuff. From now on, any mistakes you find will be mine as I poke and prod when the mood strikes.**
> 
> For as long as I can work them in, chapter titles will reflect what time period in the show the action is taking place in.
> 
> I am not sure yet where this story wants to go or how explicit it will end up so this chapter is me dipping a toe into the water to see if there is any interest before I dive in.
> 
> In this (my) version of the ABO, ruts and heats happen once a month and a alpha female will show a penis only at that time. I will leave you to imagine what happens to omega males as it won't come up in this story o.O  
>  Most of the population are betas and alpha and omegas are treated no different than anyone else.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is set around S01E02 when Waverly and Nicole meet for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN - Thank you to my beta, GetItGirl for going over this chapter for me :)

“I mean it.”

Waverly felt a swooping, pulsing heat pooling low in her abdomen as the Deputy, Nicole Haught, the name was burnt into her mind, placed her pristine Stetson on her head and flashed a bright, dimpled smile over her shoulder. Waverly’s eyes dropped unbidden, hungrily eating up the sight of Nicole’s khaki-covered hips swaying alluringly as she walked up the steps from the bar and left her alone once more.

Uncurling her fingers from the top she was clutching to her breasts, Waverly picked up the business card the officer had pulled from the front pocket of her pants and placed upon the worn top of the bar. It was heavily creased and held the lingering warmth and scent of her body that rose above the scent of beer and whiskey that was ingrained into the fabric of the saloon, and the fabric softener and detergent Nicole had used to try and get rid of the harsh scent and scratchiness of her new uniform.

Lips parting, Waverly breathed it in, tasting the sweet, sugary scent of vanilla-dipped doughnuts and the heady spice of unmated omega as it poured over her teeth and gums and filled her mouth with the sudden urge to sink her teeth into flesh and claim her for herself.

The base desire made the heat pooling in her loins burst into a conflagration that sent her hips jostling forward, bumping her hips painfully into the bar and startled her back into herself.

Mostly.

Waverly had tried her whole life to just blend in and be normal. In a small town like Purgatory, growing up with name ‘Earp’ hanging over her head like a flashing neon sign that sputtered and sparked in the darkness that went with the cursed name, that was pretty much an impossibility.

But, she had tried.

She had dropped the name, Earp, and had adopted her mama’s maiden name for a time. At school, if there was a club or activity, she had tried it. A little too successfully at times as she had ended up on the cheer squad and in the marching band at the same time until she had been kicked out of the band for being drunk after somehow been shot with a tranquillizer dart on the way to practice.

The sting of that, the been kicked out of band, not the dart, had been eased by Champ. While her peers had flitted between the very limited dating pool of Purgatory High, she’d had the same boyfriend. Yeah, sometimes his eye wandered, drawn by a too-short skirt or the bounty of cleavage in Purgatory’s too short summers but he had always come back to her and there weren’t many of her friends who could say the same.

He wasn’t even put off by the fact that she was alpha to his beta and grew a penis for a couple of days every month when she was in rut.

He refused to be with her during her ruts after he had sneaked into her bedroom during her first rut when she was sixteen. They had been dating for just over a year at the time, fumbling lovers for a couple of months, when he climbed through her window and caught her naked and very aroused, her hand wrapped around the straining, desperate length of her cock.

That had been mortifying enough but, with a look of shock and terror on his face, he had stumbled backwards and tumbled out of the open window. He’d scrambled for a moment, teetering on the edge of safety before slipping and rolling off the sloped roof and broken his arm on the hard ground with a piercing scream that had brought her uncle Curtis running from the house in his thermal pyjamas, his shotgun raised.

Waverly had been sure that Champ would want nothing more to do with her after that but, with a cast covered with colourful obscenities like a chunky tattoo sleeve thanks to his friends and high as a kite on good drugs, he had declared his love. But, since then, he had shown no desire to be with her during her ruts.

While Waverly respected his decision and never tried to change his mind, she couldn’t deny that it also hurt a little to have that part of her rejected. It wasn’t like she would have jumped him or expected him to do anything sexual. It was strange, though, she knew he watched alpha porn and wasn’t shy about toys being used on him. In fact, he liked it enough when she used a toy on his ass that he asked for it.

But, every time her rut was close and he saw her, he looked _there_ and baulked.

Maybe there was something wrong with her penis? It looked normal to Waverly but it wasn’t like there was anyone she could ask as all of her friends were betas and she really didn’t want anyone around her, poking and prodding when she was in rut and _it_ presented, so she dealt with her rut and her insecurities on her own.

It would have been nice just to have him there to hold her and feel his comfort during what could be a painful time at the start of her rut in the time it took for her body to change and form a penis. After those first couple of days, it wasn’t so bad even if the intensity of her horniness could be a bit distracting at times with only her hands and some select toys to help.

Waverly’s hips jumped again as the thought of her rut met the scent of the redhead, creating a whirlpool of need as her eyes traced over her name on the card.

“Officer Haught,” her mouth formed slowly around her name, tasting it, savouring the warmth that pooled and spread like the heat of a fine whiskey through her body. “Of course,” she blushed. Her eyes glancing back towards the door as though hoping to conjure the cocky omega who had helped untangle her from her beer-soaked top with a twinkle in her brown eyes and even, white teeth sinking into the plumpness of her lip, back into view.

She had a boyfriend!

She was straight, for cripes sake!

She had no reason to be feeling what she was feeling!

But…

The attraction that kept her feeling woolly-headed and wrong-footed through the day, her mind filled with snippets of red hair, sure hands, dimples, and that tantalising bit of skin over defined collarbones exposed by the blatant disregard for uniform rules was undeniable. Finally, fed up with having to work around her, Shorty had huffed at her and sent her home, which was just up the stairs to her small apartment above the bar, before the end of her shift.

The sounds of the bar drifted up the stairs and through the floorboards, a familiar background hum that Waverly was used to drowning out. That night was easier than usual though as she lay there beneath the thickness of the covers and extra blankets. Her mind drifted as it had all day, returning again and again to the mystery that was Nicole Haught, her attraction to her, and the possibilities it opened up in her mind.

Waverly wondered if the instant flare of attraction she had felt was because she was an alpha and Nicole was an omega but the thought was dismissed quicker than it had formed as she had met unmated omegas her own age before. Admittedly not many, but the ones she had, she had not felt anything like she did with Nicole. Also, it was a dangerous, antiquated way of thinking that belonged in the past along with other toxic and dangerous ones like the kind that claimed that women were asking to be raped just because of how they dressed or the one that taught girls that boys being mean meant they really liked you.

Being an alpha was just what she was. It didn’t give her a licence to be aggressive or chase after every unmated omega and knot them whether they were willing or not. She didn’t have to act on any attraction or feeling. In fact, if she wanted to act on anything, she had a perfectly good boyfriend she could call on… assuming he wasn’t too drunk.

There was absolutely no reason for her to by lying there, wondering what Nicole’s skin would feel like beneath her hands and pressed against hers; If her lips would be as soft as they looked as they kissed; What it would feel like to make love to a woman.

No, not _a_ woman, just Nicole.

Nicole with her tightly-braided red hair unbound and falling around them as she rose up above her, or splayed across her pillows.

Nicole with her soft brown eyes darkening with desire as she moved down her body.

Nicole.

Groaning in frustration, Waverly threw herself onto her side and pulled the covers over her head before she gave in to the temptation to touch herself to thoughts of a stranger.

~~~~~~~~~~

Waverly tried to keep Nicole as just a stranger in her life but, since Wynonna’s return to Purgatory, Waverly’s life was anything but normal. She spent more time with her sister, getting to know her while trying to break the curse put upon their family. And, as Xavier Dolls had flashed his badge and commandeered offices for them in the Sheriff’s Department, that meant that any time spent there helping with research into all the crazy put her into Nicole’s orbit.

Outside of the office, Nicole was there too, wandering into her mind even more than she wandered into _Shorty’s_ for a drink and some company after her shifts were over. She filled Waverly’s days, and nights, with the sight and scent of her, pushing aside all thoughts of her boyfriend without even trying until Champ’s once sought touch and presence began to grate on her.

When Shorty died, another victim of the curse, it was Nicole’s gentle touch upon her hands, her scent, and her soft voice that brought her a moment of comfort at his wake instead of Champ. Rather than offering the support she needed, he draped himself over her shoulders like a heavy, smothering weight, his pores oozing with a vile possessive scent as he glared at Nicole and pressed sloppy kisses against Waverly’s cheek.

His actions had made Waverly shrivel and feel dead inside but it was the way Nicole’s scent dimmed, taking on a slightly acrid burnt odour as she had backed away that had made Waverly realise what she was putting up with. Shrugging Champ off, she sent him away as soon as she could.

Hours later, when the bar was quiet, Waverly stood behind the bar and felt the silence and grief settle over her. Her life felt like it was spinning out of control, everything flying out of her hands and spinning away!

Her uncle was dead and now Shorty! Both murdered by a curse that had nothing to do with them!

The same curse that had killed her pa and every heir before him. A curse that now threatened Wynonna’s life every day.

Digging her nails into the ancient wood of the bar, Waverly swallowed down the scream clawing its way up her throat. Her breath panted and rasped around it, her vision darkening around the edges in pulsing waves with every ragged breath until she could mark the frantic pounding of her heart by it.

She was spinning away.

Soaring and falling out of control.

Silently screaming for the world to slow down!

And then…

She was anchored.

Her lungs filling with the scent of vanilla-dipped doughnuts.

Her face cradled tenderly between elegant, lightly-calloused hands.

Waverly blinked back the darkness, her vision filling with the warm brown of Nicole’s eyes.

“Ni-Nicole?”

“Shh, just breathe with me, Waves. I’ve got you. In and out. That’s it.”

Waverly fell into the comfort of Nicole’s voice and let it guide her until everything came back into focus. Only then did she realise that her fingers were tangled up in her the front of her shirt, crushing creases in the thick, blue cotton. She can feel the heat of her body beneath her touch, seeping in through her fingers and spreading through her body. And Waverly wants to melt into it, wrap herself up in a blanket of Nicole’s vanilla-dipped doughnut-scented warmth and never let go.

The desire was so great, Waverly didn’t realise she had let herself fall against Nicole until she felt Nicole’s voice vibrate beneath her ear and realised her face was pressed against her. Her apologies were brushed aside with a gentle smile and an even softer touch of hands that brushed down her spine, urging her to stay as long as she needed.

Blushing furiously, Waverly finally summoned the strength to step away even though she couldn’t find enough to let go of Nicole’s hand. Her thumb brushed back and forth across Nicole’s knuckles and the back of her hand, using her as a touchstone to ground herself.

“I didn’t expect to see you again after the-“ her voice broke, catching anew on the loss of Shorty and, selfishly, on the uncertainty his loss had thrown her life into.

“I just finished my shift and wanted to see how you were doing and offer my help if you needed it.”

“Help?”

“Cleaning up around here. I was only young when my aunt and uncle died but I still remember how busy mom and dad were after the wake.”

Waverly glanced up. She could sense that genuine desire to help writ clearly in Nicole’s expressive eyes just as surely as she could see the hint of colour in her cheeks that made her wonder if there was more to her offer.

“You don’t have to-“

“I know,” Nicole interrupted. “I want to help if you’ll let me?”

Waverly found herself powerless to say no so simply nodded and then almost swallowed her tongue as Nicole unbuttoned her uniform shirt and stripped down to reveal a figure-hugging, low-cut tank top in the same blue as her shirt.

“Seems only fair seeing as you ended up in far less than that first time,” Nicole explained as she carefully folded her shirt and put it out of the way.

“Not quite,” Waverly teased as she bent over to collect cleaning supplies from beneath the bar, “you’re not wet.”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“What?” Waverly’s eyes went wide, her head nearly cracking against the bar as she shot upright.

“What?”

Waverly wasn’t fooled for one second by Nicole’s feigned innocence but she let her get away with it and every other teasing, flirty comment she threw her way and let them distract her from her grieving as they worked side by side with the kind of ease that came with knowing someone for years.

Finally, the bar was clear of all signs of the wake that had taken place there earlier and they stood back, their bodies brushing with every breath as they took it in.

“Do you want to go grab a drink?”

Nicole’s chuckle filled the air as Waverly cocked a brow as her and pointedly looked around the bar.

“I meant somewhere other than here. The diner should still be open, if their coffee is good enough. I’ll even get you a piece of pie if you want,” she offered, “my treat.”

“I’m the one that owes you a coffee,” Waverly reminded her.

“You still will,” Nicole smiled, looking at her from beneath lowered lashes. “This way I get to see you again.”

“We see each other every day, Nicole,” Waverly chuckled.

“At the station doesn’t count,” Nicole smiled easily. “That doesn’t mean I’m giving up on our breakroom meetings,” she teased. “This way I won’t have to worry about Agent Dolls threatening to kill me for not knocking. Which I did do, by the way,” she huffed slightly.

“What?!” Waverly growled, her burning need to go and give Dolls a piece of her mind tempered by the brush of Nicole’s fingers against the pulse at the inside of her wrist.

“Coffee?”

“And pie,” Waverly smiled back, slipping her arms into the sleeves of her coat as Nicole held it out for her. Again displaying a comfort and ease between their movements that wasn’t easy to find. Holding out her hand, she watched as Nicole’s warm hand slipped easily into her grasp, their fingers entwining and locking together like pieces of the same puzzle.


	2. Leavin’ on Your Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set around the time of S01E03, Waverly goes through the pain of her rut with Nicole's help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN - I am useless at knowing when TW/CW's are needed so, just in case. This chapter might need some for how Waverly sees herself but it is not because she is an alpha and gets a cock once a month. Instead, it is I think many people get about themselves when comparing themselves to what advertising/fashion says we should look like.
> 
> I do not believe it for myself but... the human body is beautiful and amazing in all shapes and forms <3
> 
> Another AN - Just in case any more pathetic people decide to comment about this kind of story AFTER disregarding the tags and the clear warning on the summary, please, don't bother responding to their stupid, just let them stew and I will delete the comments as soon as I can. For everyone else that can read tags and decided to give it a go... THANK YOU
> 
> And another AN - Thanks again to GetItGirl for doing the beta work on this :)

Waverly’s moan worked it’s way up through her body despite her efforts to contain it, and escaped from between lips parted from panting, filling the sloped-roof room that was her bedroom at the homestead with its mournful refrain. She clutched her pillow closer, curling around it as she pressed it against her abdomen and prayed for the ache to ease.

It didn’t work. Not the pillow, the tablets she had taken, and certainly not the praying. But then, it never did.

The best thing for that part of her rut, according to all her research, was a partner to share it with. Which didn’t even mean a sexual partner as all she needed was someone to distract her, and maybe cuddle with, until her body adjusted. But, there was no one to help. Wynonna was busy doing something Revenant-related with Doc and Dolls, and her aunt Gus was busy at the bar.

As for Champ, she had already tried calling and begged him to help but he had gotten that panicked tone to his voice that had made her feel guilty for daring to ask him. The second time she had called, Waverly had been convinced she had heard the kind of trashy, pumping music that screamed that he was at what Wynonna would have called a ‘sleazy knocker locker’. He had denied it, as usual, but Champ had never had the best poker face or voice. Even if he had, Pete York had interrupted to ask Champ if he was going to get a lapdance or not.

Even if he had answered on the first call and said he would be there for her, Waverly would have been lying to herself if she had claimed that was what she wanted. It wasn’t Champ she thought of any more, it was Nicole. It had been from the moment she had seen her at the bar and the two months since then. The stolen conversations between all the chaos that went with all things Earp had only deepened her feelings.

When she thought of arms holding and comforting her, it was Nicole’s toned, slender arms she dreamed of. It was her body she ached to feel pressed against her. Nicole’s hair splayed across her pillow and brown eyes she longed to see each morning when she awoke.

“Nicole.”

Waverly moaned her name, burying her sweaty face into her pillow as another wave of aching pain had her back bowing, her legs kicking her covers onto the floor before it curled her back around the pillow she hugged. Her mind flashed with images of Nicole; her smile; her scent. It made her hips grind into against her pillow in an effort to assuage the ache building there even as it filled her with disgust.

It was wrong to think of her friend how she did, she knew that. She had a boyfriend and she wasn’t going to cheat in her relationship! He wasn’t as loyal as she would have liked but she wasn’t going to use that as an excuse to stray herself. But, she felt powerless to stop her thoughts from straying sometimes.

Bones aching beneath oversensitive skin, Waverly pushed herself upright onto the edge of her bed and climbed to her feet. Through the window beside her bed, she could see the last traces of light from the sun as it dipped below the horizon behind the treeline of the forest beyond the edge of the property. The strip of land that lay between the homestead and the weatherbeaten barn was barren and empty apart from her Jeep.

She had been hoping that Wynonna would have shown mercy and returned with the pre-rut supplies. She had texted her a little over an hour before about them but there was nothing, not even a ‘go to hell’ text or a middle finger emoji even though she could see hers had been read. Frankly, it made Waverly hope that the lone skunk, that darted around the far side of the barn with its black and white tail waving like a flag of warning for everyone to see, took a detour when Wynonna got home and sprayed her truck.

Shuffling around the edge of her bed, her feet barely lifting above the pile of the carpet, Waverly scooped up her phone, a worn pair of baggy sweatpants, and an oversized hoodie that she kept on hand for such occasions and shuffled her way through to the bathroom. What she needed was a shower to wash away the grime of sweat and the scent of desperation clinging to her skin.

Once her rut hit fully, she knew she would feel better for the most part but this part was always hell for her to deal with even though all the books and everything she read glossed over it like her body changing from one thing to another was easy or something! She was betting that most of the books were written by betas or alpha males ‘cause there was no way they had ever had to experience the shifts and changes that came with growing a penis from where their clit was normally and having their pussy seal up to a thin, impenetrable slit once a month!

It was a lot and Waverly felt every shift and change of her body like it was the first time all over again.

Waverly had tried to talk to Wynonna about it once when her second rut had turned out to be as painful as her first but, her beta sister had been less than attentive. Really, Waverly shouldn’t have expected anything different with the nightly combination of drugs, binge drinking and God knows what else Wynonna was doing at the time but it had still hurt to have her sister brush off her concerns about her body with a lazy wave of her hand like she was nothing more than an annoying fly buzzing in her ear.

It was not long after than when Wynonna had upped and left her and Purgatory behind in the mirrors of the Bluntline bus she had escaped on, leaving Waverly to pick up the pieces of her heart and deal with everything on her own.

Wynonna was a bit more approachable after her time away from Purgatory but, with the curse looming over them and learning how to be sisters again, Waverly was not eager to try that conversation again.

With the heat from the shower gently steaming up the edges of the bathroom mirror, Waverly looked at her slowly-blurring reflection. She tried to be strong and love her body for what it was and not compare herself to others but, it wasn’t always easy.

Her hair, while it was soft and long, took far too much time out of the day to dry and tame, the colour was just a shade of brown that to her was only mhh… too dark to be blonde, too light to be the gorgeous chestnut of Wynonna’s mare-with-a-Hollywood-stylist locks. Her body was healthily slender and, thanks to her love of yoga and not filling her face with doughnuts and burgers, she was toned and fit and could still fit into her high school cheerleader uniform.

When she looked in the mirror though, her distorted image showed her small breasts, hips that were maybe too boyishly-narrow and thighs that were too muscular to be pretty according to fashion standards.

It made shopping for clothing off the rack tricky at best but, fortunately, Waverly loved to scour thrift stores and had become something of a wizard with needle and thread and loved nothing more than creating something new from things people had thrown away.

Her eyes drifted down, following the path of her hand as it ghosted down between her breasts and over her abdomen, a trail of goose-bumps rising across tender skin in the wake of her touch before fingers and eyes grazed over the thatch of tight, trimmed curls between her thighs. There was nothing to show of her penis right then, it was still tucked away, causing pain while it formed enough to emerge and cause problems with the line of her preferred clothing styles.

Once it was out, Waverly had no real problem with her cock, it was what it was, but there was nothing worse than dealing with a boner in a short skirt.

Thank _god_ for good compression shorts for those times during a rut when she needed to go out even if the thought of squeezing into them made her whine in sympathy for her possible future self.

Champ was always assuring her that she was beautiful but, if she was, why was he always finding his way to women that were different than her? Taller than her. Blonder. Curvier. Just more of everything.

Her hormones raging out of control, Waverly clenched her fists in frustration, a sibilant growl filling the steam-filled air. Huffing in a cleansing breath, she turned on her phone, pushing aside her disgruntled mood with the pounding bass and chords of her favourite pop playlist before stepping under the pulsing spray of hot water.

If no less antsy and weirdly too big for her own skin, Waverly felt better once her shower was done. She dabbed and patted at her too sensitive skin with the fluffiest towel she could find, soaking up the moisture with delicate care until she was dry enough to apply her favourite lotion. It was one of her many steps on her pre-rut self-care ritual that usually preceded the curl up in a ball on the couch and watch cheesy movies while binging on ice cream stage that had been derailed by living with the snack-hunting machine that was Wynonna.

Waverly’s lips curled back in a snarl as she checked her phone for the fifth time since stepping out of the shower but there were still no new notifications to say that Wynonna was going to come through for her. For a hot second, she debated trying Champ again but frankly, she would rather risk her life and drive into town herself than do that.

Why couldn’t Wynonna have let her keep her apartment instead of demanding she stay at the homestead? Yeah, sure, the homestead was protected against Revenant attacks, she knew that but the limited delivery services in Purgatory refused to even consider driving the thirty minutes it took to get there since Wynonna took a potshot at the last one Waverly had spent a good twenty minutes of her time sweet-talking into bringing them pizza.

The sweep of headlights through the frosted glass of the small bathroom window glinting off the mirror to light the room brightly broke Waverly out of her thoughts just as she was finishing up with her lotion. Dropping her foot off the edge of the tub she quickly pulled on her clothes and rushed out of the room and down the stairs with thoughts of all the snacks and treats she usually denied herself filling her head and making her drool with anticipation.

Racing to the door, she gripped the handle, waiting a long couple of seconds for her sister's boots to echo off the old wood of the porch and her shadow to show through the covered windows before yanking the door open.

“Finally! I thought you were—!” The scent of vanilla-dipped doughnuts exploded across Waverly’s senses, making her words dry up and her jaw drop open in anticipation a split second before her eyes adjusted to the light and she realised that it _wasn’t_ her sister standing before her with her chestnut hair, weather-inappropriate leather clothing, and shit-eating grin carrying a box of doughnuts. Instead it was a vision that made her wonder if she wasn’t hallucinating her dreams.

“Nicole?!”

“Hi,” covering her mild shock caused by Waverly throwing open the door with a smile, Nicole held up the bags she was carrying as a peace offering. “I brought the snacks.”

Waverly blinked as the bags twisted and swayed, the crinkling sounds from within promising an insane amount of single-use plastic and waste that would usually make her weep.

“But, I asked Wynonna?”

“You did. Is it okay if I come in? This ice cream isn’t going to last much longer.”

“Ice cream?” Waverly stepped aside and trotted after Nicole.

“Mhm, I hope I got the right one. I know you like vegan when you can get it but Wynonna didn’t seem to know which brand you like,” Nicole explained, her voice muffled by the crinkling of packaging as she emptied out the bags onto the kitchen table in search of the ice cream. “Fortunately, but sadly, the store only had the one kind anyway and as it’s the chocolate, chocolate chip with chocolate swirl you asked for—” hand closed around the cold container, she pulled it out of the bag and held it out with a hopeful smile.

“Oh my god! I could kiss you!” Squealing, Waverly grabbed the tub from Nicole’s hands and hugged it.

“Well, never thought it was possible to be jealous of a tub of ice cream until now.”

“Silly,” raising up on her tiptoes, Waverly planted a quick kiss on Nicole’s cheek, feeling it move beneath her lips as Nicole smiled. It was something they had done often, a familiar gesture that had become a part of their friendship but, right then, it was a mistake that filled Waverly with the heady scent of her and pulled the taste of omega over her lips as a wave of pain was unleashed upon her body.

Nicole’s hands were like brands of heat and strength upon her waist that steadied Waverly as she swayed drunkenly, her forehead coming to rest upon Nicole’s collar with a soft thump. Nicole’s hands moved, one sliding around to rest at the small of her back, holding her closer while the other moved up, cupping the back of her head and neck, elegant fingers pulling a moan from deep within Waverly’s soul as they worked at the tense muscles there.

It felt so good, so unbelievably _good_ just to be held and Waverly relaxed into Nicole’s touch willingly, melting into the heat and strength of her body, basking in the sweet omega scent that called to her, urging her to seek out the areas of her body that would be even sweeter… the gland over her pulse that would hold her mating bite, marking them forever as mates and between her thighs where Waverly longed to rest and sink into her warmth.

Claim. Mate. Breed.

The call pulled Waverly back into herself and she threw herself out of Nicole’s arms, almost pitching herself backwards over the table in an effort to create some space before she did something so out of character she was ashamed of her own thoughts.

“Hey, it’s okay—”

“What are you doing here?”

“Snacks?” Nicole gestured to the almost-overflowing table as she picked the tub of ice cream off the floor where it had landed.

“Sorry, that sounded rude. It’s just, I sent that to Wynonna, at least, I thought I did,” Waverly rubbed the back of her neck, wrapping her other arm around her waist at the sudden embarrassing thought that she had sent her pre-rut shopping list to Nicole instead of Wynonna.

“You did. It’s my turn to be sorry,” Nicole smiled. “I should have explained. Wynonna threw her phone at me and asked me to help out. Her actual words were something like ‘make yourself useful, Tator-Haught’.”

“I’m going to kill her,” Waverly groaned from behind her hands as she thought about the moaning about her rut that had gone along with her shopping list.

“Hey,” Nicole gently prised Waverly’s hands away from her face. “No need for that. I’m only too glad to help.”

“She should have done it herself instead of being selfish and putting it on you—”

“She was thinking about you, Waves. By the look of them all, they’re going to be stuck in that fancy BBD decontamination shower for the next week at least.”

“What?”

“Yeah, kind of looked like they had fallen into a vat of lube with all the gunk they were covered in. Dolls said they were fine though,” she quickly assured Waverly before the panic dawning in her eyes could take root. “Sheriff said he would keep an eye on them and I don’t envy him with how pissed off Wynonna looked. I snuck a photo if you want to see?”

Waverly edged closer until she could see the screen of Nicole’s phone and the image captured there of Wynonna walking away, her arms and legs held akimbo as though in an effort to ward off the feeling of the slimy goo that was covering her from head to toe.

“She was whimpering about it being in her boots and down her bra when I left.”

Waverly shivered as Nicole’s words and breath whispered against the shell of her ear and the knowledge that if she just dared to turn her head, their lips would surely meet. She giggled, trying to brush aside her nervousness and deny her desires. “She would hate that.”

“Do you want some help putting some of this away?”

“I—” she did but, “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” she whispered. “I’m sure you’ve got better things to be doing than staying here when— with—” she gestured to her body, blushing furiously as Nicole’s eyes followed her motion.

“Your rut?”

“Yeah,” Waverly blushed even harder at the word coming so easily from Nicole’s mouth, her cheeks burning with colour and heat. Her fingers itching to soothe away the lines of Nicole’s worry wrinkle that creased her brow.

“Waves, when’s Champ coming?”

“He isn’t,” Waverly sighed, her head dropping despondently. “He doesn’t like to be here— with me.”

“Because of your rut? Son of a—!”

The incredulity and anger in Nicole’s voice had Waverly lifting her head just to see if the look on her face showed the same. And boy, did it. Her whole body was stiff, her head lifted in a way that made her seem taller and more imposing than ever. The statuelike stillness translated into her face, making her look like a goddess caught at the moment of raining hell down from above by a master sculptor. Her brown eyes, usually soft and wide with wonder were dark and narrowed with an intensity that sent a shiver creeping down Waverly’s spine urging her to run. Her jaw was a tight line, a muscle ticking at the point of her jaw as her teeth ground together.

As though feeling the touch of her eyes, Nicole’s body suddenly softened before Waverly’s gaze. She melted down, becoming smaller, becoming the woman she’d come to know. Her head tilted in a barely perceptible move that exposed the pale curve of her neck to Waverly’s eyes and teeth in apology and— submission. It was an offer that Waverly fought not to take her up on and mark all that pale skin with her teeth.

“I’m sorry. It’s just… well, frankly, Champ is kind of a douche for not been here.”

“I’m not going to force myself on him,” Waverly felt compelled as usual to defend the actions of her boyfriend.

“Waves, I would never think that for a moment.”

Nicole went quiet for a moment, her eyes searching her face. Waverly tried to hide her feelings but another wave of pain threatened to double her up again.

“Waves. You can tell me to leave at any time but, would it be okay if I stay with you for a while?”

“I’m not really very good company right now.” As Nicole nodded in understanding and moved to walk around her as promised, Waverly shocked herself by reaching out and snagging her slender wrist. “I would like it if you stayed for a little while though.”

“Okay.”

Her smile, so bright and wide, made Waverly’s heart soar in pleasure to be the cause of it.

“I’m here to help you Waves. Just tell me what you need to make this easy for you. What should I expect?”

“I’m not sure,” Waverly shrugged. “I’ve only ever done this alone. Snacks and cheesy movies to distract me through the pain and then— well— you know,” she blushed.

“Pain?”

“Yes when— Oh, please don’t make me say any of it!” she moaned.

“That’s okay,” Nicole chuckled softly, “my parents were negligent hippies but they were open-minded in their approach to that so I probably learned more than most of my peers at school did. And in college, I had an alpha friend. We used to help each other out during our ruts and heats. In a purely platonic way,” she explained. “I’ve never slept with an alpha, just betas and omegas. We trusted each other, knew we were safe and just used to help at the start of it all. Just things like making sure supplies were in and we were there if any kind of emergency came up. With how I was in college that was usually papers that needed handing in and collecting any lecture notes.”

“No parties?” Waverly arched a brow at the redhead.

“Nope. I was a good girl in college.”

Even without the mischievous twinkle in Nicole’s eyes, Waverly doubted that, and she stored the little titbits she was garnering about Nicole’s past away, holding them close amongst all the other things to get her to expand on later so she could fill herself with all things, Nicole.

“So, snacks, movies, heating pad, and hydration before the main event of lube-filled fun?”

“And you… For— for the first part,” Waverly spluttered, kicking at the kitchen floor with her toe as Nicole’s smirk made her realise how _that_ had sounded.

“Maybe some other time.”

“What?”

“What snack and cheesy movie combo are you in the mood for first?”

As she found herself doing more often than not, Waverly let Nicole’s flirty comment slide and fell into the comfort of their banter as she instructed Nicole on the proper way to prepare a couch nest for them out of pillow and blankets, lots of blankets, and oversaw the construction of it and the building up of the log fire to a steady roar.

Before the end of the first movie, the heating pad was abandoned in favour of Nicole’s hands that did a much better job of supporting and cradling her body from where they had ended up spooned together on the couch even if they sometimes brushed a little bit lower in an effort to soothe than was safe for Waverly’s brain to endure.

Having Nicole there was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because she was a welcome distraction from what was happening to her and being held by her, feeling their bodies close and smelling her omega scent was as soothing as it was thrilling. But it was a curse as the pain seemed to come in increasing waves that made it feel like her body was fighting to rush towards a conclusion she battled against so she could hold on to Nicole just a little longer.

As the screen went blank after the credits on the second movie came to an end, Waverly sighed as her eyes caught the time on her watch. It was closer to 2 am than 1 but she still didn’t want to let go of Nicole. So, she stayed still, hardly daring to breathe as she hoped to fain sleep and hold on a little longer but she felt Nicole’s body shift and stir behind her, her full breasts pressing against her as she drew in a deep breath. She must have let out a whine of protest or something as Nicole chuckled, her hand and cheek brushing against her shoulder as she leaned close to peer at her.

“You are terrible at faking sleep, Waverly Earp.”

“Hush, jus’ five more minutes,” Waverly mumbled in protest, pushing back as she screwed her eyes shut.

“We are both going to wake up with bad backs if we stay here, Waves. Maybe not so much you, you are short enough for the couch.”

“Hey,” Waverly protested, digging her elbow back into Nicole’s side to try and silence her laughter. Turning over, entrusting Nicole to make sure she didn’t end up on her ass on the floor, she snuggled close, her fingers chasing the glow from the flickering embers in the fireplace across the beauty of her face. “I just don’t want the day to end,” she admitted.

“It doesn’t have to. Not if you don’t want it to, that is,” she reassured, her head tilting in deference to Waverly again, “I’m not on duty this weekend and, if you’re comfortable with me being here, I want to help as much as you will let me.”

“But,” Waverly ducked her head, hiding her eagerness at Nicole’s offer as her eyes flickered down her own body in an effort to remind herself as much as Nicole as to why it was a bad idea. Realising how close they were pressed together, she shifted, creating some space between their bodies.

“Hey,” hooking her chin with a finger, Nicole lifted Waverly’s gaze. “I trust you, Waverly. Even if you had a full-on erection right now I know you wouldn’t force yourself on me. And, even if you tried, I am kind of trained, I think I could take you down and slap some cuffs on you if you got out of control,” she winked, a smirk teasing her full lips.

The thought of cuffs sent an unexpected thrill through Waverly’s body that was blown away seconds later as Nicole nimbly scrambled over her body and climbed to her feet.

“Though, for reference, when I’m being restrained I prefer rope or silk scarfs.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Waverly shot back, unwilling to let Nicole have all the fun with the flirting.

“Oh, I’m sure you will,” Nicole purred.

“Damn,” Waverly mumbled under her breath. Beaten by Nicole’s cocky flirting again.

“Are- are you sure? I could take the couch and you could have my bed?”

“You wouldn’t take Wynonna’s bed?” Nicole frowned, her eyes moving to the curtained-off area that reeked of the beta and the cheap booze she seemed to bathe in.

“I would never hear the end of it if I got my ‘alpha stuff’ all over her space,” Waverly snorted. Realising how _that_ might sound she stuttered and blushed furiously. “And by stuff I mean my scent not— not anything else.”

“I guessed that,” Nicole smiled. “And, for the record, I kind of love your… _stuff_. And, it kind of defeats the purpose of my being here if we’re too far apart. So—”

Waverly gazed down at the hand Nicole held out to her and took it in her own. There was, as usual, the feeling of rightness and completion as they touched that strengthened as Waverly led the way up to her bedroom.

She felt strangely sure of herself until they got into the bedroom. Once there she felt uncertain the moment Nicole’s hand slipped from hers and almost retreated to the living room and the small couch again. The certainty in Nicole’s eye gave her strength again and as Nicole made use of the bathroom, she changed the bedding and picked out something suitable for what was sure to be a long night.

Her body felt closer to changing than it usually did at that stage of her rut but there was still nothing to show for it externally. Just in case that should change though, she didn’t want to be wearing anything too tight or the least bit revealing, not after what had happened when Champ had seen her.

She was sure she would never recover if Nicole had the same reaction to whatever it was that was different about her body.

“You okay? You look a little lost.”

“Mhm, yeah. Just wondering what side of the bed you sleep on?”

“It’s your bed, Waves. I’ll find my way around you.”

A statement that sounded far too sexual to Waverly’s rut-driven mind so, with a rushed offer for Nicole to pick out whatever she wanted to sleep in, she ran from the room with what she had picked out for herself clutched to her groin even though there was nothing to hide and stumbled into the bathroom.

Lingering within was tempting but ultimately foolish and only delayed what she really wanted so Waverly did what she needed to and splashed cold water on her wrists a couple of times more than was needed. Then, sucking in a breath that filled her lungs with courage and the lingering scent of Nicole’s presence in the small room, she turned off the light and made her way back to the bedroom.

Nicole was waiting for her, not on the bed as she had expected, but standing at the window. Her gaze was fixed on a point outside of the window, affording Waverly a moment to take in her beauty before she let the curtain fall back into place and turned to face her.

“I was half expecting to see you running off across the fields.”

“Me? Naw! If I’d thought of it I might have,” she finally admitted with a wry shrug. “Champ didn’t have the best response when he saw me the first time,” she sighed brokenly. “I— I’m scared.”

“You have nothing to fear with me, Waverly.”

“I know that, I really do. It’s just— It’s not an easy thing to shake and I don’t want to lose you as a friend.”

“You never could, Waverly,” she lulled gently, her voice a soothing whisper as she crossed the distance and took Waverly’s hands within her own. “As long as you want me, I’ll be by your side.”

The gentleness burning within Nicole’s eyes was a thing of wonder to Waverly. It soothed the pain of past hurts and instilled a feeling of trust Waverly couldn’t deny even if she wanted to so, she let it take her away. She breathed in and out, in and out, and, with a gentle tug on Nicole’s hands, made the first move and pulled Nicole towards her bed.

They moved instinctually, moving into the same position they had taken on the couch with Nicole playing the part of the big spoon. Waverly melted into her, her body pliant beneath the veritable mountain of blankets covering them as Nicole draped her arm across her waist and pulled her closer with a sleepy murmur that teased her ear and pooled as liquid heat between her legs and filled the room.

The nights Waverly shared a bed with Champ were a trial of restraint for Waverly. He was all hard angles that seemed to take up all the space and stole the covers in a way that always felt like the sleep version of manspreading and, more often than not, she had to resist the urge to fight back from the edge of the mattress she had been forced to cling to and kick him off the other side.

Nicole was closer to her by far but there was a comfort and softness to her that was missing with Champ that made Waverly want to be even closer. And maybe that was her rut driving her feelings and the fact that Nicole was willing to be with her during that painful part of it but, it didn’t feel like it.

Not even when she was woken hours later by a searing pain she was familiar with, even if it was more than a day early, as her penis made a painful appearance. She lay there, curled in on herself, her breathing panting out in ragged gasps.

“It’s okay. It’s okay, Waves.”

Whimpering, Waverly curled around the pillow Nicole pressed to her abdomen, crushing it into a ball as she focussed her attention on Nicole’s voice and the soothing motion of her hand upon her shuddering back.

“I’ve got you, babe. I got you.”

Waverly drifted, floating along on the comfort that was Nicole, stirring long enough to take a sip of water at Nicole’s insistence, growling at her chuckled reminder that hydration would be important later. With another growl, she turned over, not so far gone that she didn’t forget to take her pillow with her to act as a barrier as she took over the role of big spoon.

She awoke hours later to her hips grinding mindlessly into the pillow beneath her hips, her teeth biting holes into pillow Nicole’s head had laid against, covering it in her omega scent, and the mouthwatering scent of food actually being cooked and not cremated wafting in under the door.

Waverly’s hand twitched, the urge to literally take her cock in hand and assuage the ache in her loins was overwhelming but she couldn’t. The taste in her mouth, the scent filling her lungs, every thought in her mind, it was all Nicole. Dreaming about her was one thing, that she couldn’t control. Anything more would be a betrayal of her friendship with Nicole… and her relationship with Champ.

The fact that her relationship was almost an afterthought wasn’t lost on Waverly but she chose not to think about why that was right then.

Forcing herself into the torturous device that was her strongest pair of compression shorts, Waverly tried to ignore the discomfort on her constrained erection and made her way downstairs.

Her rut usually made her feel woolly-headed and uncoordinated but she felt more alert than usual, whether that was due to the shortness of the before-cock stage, having Nicole there to comfort and support her, or having a breakfast waiting for her was up for debate at a later time when she didn’t feel like she was waddling around like a duck and her stomach didn’t feel like it was trying to eat itself.

It was with a bounce in her waddling step and her rock hard cock trying to punch a hole in her underwear that Waverly entered the kitchen. Her heart warmed, her chest puffing out with some primitive alpha pride at the sight of Nicole busy at the homestead’s ancient stove.

The pale, unmarked line of Nicole’s neck called to her, making her teeth ache with the urge to bite and claim her.

“Morning, Waves!”

Pulling herself back, Waverly quickly took a seat at the table, almost missing it in her haste to sit down and hide any possible evidence of her arousal before Nicole could turn around.

“Hi!” her voice squeaked out, taking on a startled tone at made Waverly roll her eyes at herself.

“I hope you’re hungry. Wasn’t sure what you would be in the mood for so I played it safe and made a bit of everything.”

Waverly’s eyes widened in anticipation as Nicole filled the table with dishes she’d been keeping warm in the oven. “It looks amazing!” And it did… just not as tantalizing as Nicole’s neck did as she tilted her head just right, showing deference and pleasure.

Deliberate or not, it made a growl of pleasure work it’s way unbidden from Waverly’s throat. She tried to stifle it behind a forkful of perfectly fluffy pancakes but she knew it was too late, Nicole had heard it but, instead of challenging her or acting repulsed, a pretty blush stole across Nicole’s cheeks, rising up from the open collar of her borrowed shirt.

~~~~~~~~~~

Waverly fell naked onto her bed after Nicole left her, her teasing instruction to stay hydrated lingered long after her cruiser had vanished from sight. She wished the omega could have stayed longer but realistically she knew they had pushed it and she had denied her body too long as it was.

Settling herself amongst her pillows, Waverly closed her eyes and tried settled her thoughts. In her mind, she tried to summon thoughts of her boyfriend, Champ. His muscular body adorned with tattoos. his goofy grin and boyish features. the way his body felt. But, her mind and desires rebelled, replacing each image before it could form with ones of Nicole.

Her soft waves of red hair that felt like silk between her fingers. The curves of her waist and hips. The feel of her body pressed against hers. The dimples that popped beside her infectiously-bright smile. Image after image came so easily, flowing to form a Nicole that felt close enough to touch. One that knelt beside her on the bed and replaced her light, teasing touch upon her straining cock with her elegant fingers that pumped slowly up and down, drawing Waverly’s hips off the bed.

With a thick groan, Waverly surrendered to her imagination, her hand sliding up and down through the copious amounts of precum leaking in rivulets from her cock, pumping the thick length of her cock to the touch of the Nicole in her head. Swirling her thumb across her head over and over, she thrust up into the press of Nicole’s tongue, seeking out the sucking heat of her mouth and throat.

She came hard, harder than she’d ever come before, her cock spewing forth ribbons of white that splashed across her breasts and abdomen and down her thighs before flowing over her hands that pumped and milked her cock and knot in an effort to keep up with the sensation of Nicole’s pussy as she rode her.

Rearing up, Waverly’s teeth snapped at Nicole’s neck but her teeth came together on thin air with a sharp click that rang out. Breathing hard, Waverly collapsed back weakly amongst the pillows, her body quivering with exertion and aftershocks of pleasure.

She knew that later she would feel regret and shame for what she had done but… gathering the pillow and clothing Nicole had used, she breathed in the scent of her omega, her body leaping to the call and hardening in an instant.

Regret and shame was for later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN - Just in case anyone is wondering, Champ will be out of the picture very soon and there will be on 'actual' cheating going on on Waverly's part (though she probably feels like she has even if it was just her 'rut-brain' telling her who she really wants).
> 
> AN 2 - Nicole has got more restraint and self-control in her pinkie finger than a saint. Imagination!Nicole is not a saint and does not know the meaning of restraint and self-control.


	3. Constant Cravings/Walking After Midnight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Events in this chapter take place the time frame of 1x06 (but Champ never makes it to Shorty's) to the morning of 1x07/

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN - Thanks going out again to GetItGirl for the beta work :)
> 
> AN 2 - I just want to thank everyone that is reading, enjoying, and has commented on this. I knew I wanted to see a Alpha Waverly story but I didn't think anyone else would want to so it has all been wonderfully overwhelming. While I am bad at responding to comments, I read and love them all (apart from 1 but I didn't want to give them a platform to bother anyone or give them attention, luckily that's why the option to delete is there) ;)

Guilt and shame washed through Waverly, turning the taste of her favourite tea to nothing more than bitter ash and bile in her mouth and stomach as she stared down at the message from Champ burning up at her from her phone.

Not even the fact that he had asked if it was ‘safe’ could bring her usual ire, not when she had spent her whole rut thinking about Nicole being with her, on her, under her, their bodies entwined, and not her boyfriend. It had her messaging him back, telling him it was safe for him to come round even though she would much rather have been alone to savour those sinful thoughts for as long as she could.

He stumbled through the door over two hours later, just when she was starting to think he had found something better to do. His eyes were glassy and bloodshot from the booze still in his system, his body reeking of sweat, strawberry-scented glitter, and sex. He looked and smelt like he had just rolled out of whichever strip joint he and his buddies had been in since the start of her rut.

There were enough alpha hormones from her rut lingering that she wanted to bite his head off as he swaggered towards her with his trademark smirk splitting his face but, the guilt was there, riding her, making her hold her tongue even when he was close enough for her to see a name and phone number scrawled amongst the tattoos covering his arms.

Shannon Cooper.

Shannon Cooper?

Waverly had wondered what had happened to the runner up to the _Purgatory’s Nicest Person Award_ she had won after she had left her job teaching kindergarten. She had thought maybe she was teaching in the city. Seeing her name on Champ’s arm after he had been to a strip joint was a possibility that had never crossed Waverly’s mind.

He crowded in on her, trapping her between his hulking body and the harsh edge of the sink. Cold water soaked through her clothing, making Waverly’s skin crawl almost as much as the stale beer on his breath, the unwashed odour of his body and the hint of cheap perfume as he leaned in for a kiss with a leering expression twisting his face.

Planting her hands against his chest, Waverly pushed him back with a harsh shove and barely resisted the urge to rub her hands clean against the legs of her high-waisted jeans. She felt unclean, sullied by his actions and behaviour.

“Hey! What’s wrong, babe?”

It was on the tip of Waverly’s tongue to rile at him for cheating on her again but— the memory of what she had done during her rut came back to her in flashes of images. It had all been in her imagination but it still felt like she had cheated.

“Go home, Champ,” she ordered, moving away from him before he could reach for her again.

“But… I just got here,” he whined, “I thought we could have some _time_ together.”

The leer was back in full force along with his swagger as he moved his hips, drawing her attention to the bulge of his erection where it pushed against the zipper of his jeans.

Now he wanted her?

When her rut was over?

Now she was ‘safe’ to be around?

Now he was finished with his lapdances and god knows what else?

That was when he found her attractive?

There was a time, shamefully not long before her rut, when she would have just given in to the demands of his needs but, she didn’t want his hands or anything else near her right then.

“I’ve got things to do in town with Wynonna.”

“Then why did you say I could come over?”

“That was two hours ago, Champ! I had time to see you then, now I’m late.”

“Babe—”

“Go home, Champ. Sleep off the booze and, for god’s sake, take a shower, you smell like you slept on the floor at Pussy Willows,” _or on top of one of the strippers._ She spared a glance at the name and number on his arm but couldn’t summon up the desire to care if he knew it was there or not as she marched past him, picking up her jacket and keys to her Jeep on the way out.

He was there in her rearview mirror, a confused furrow creasing his brow as she drove past the mailbox and turned her Jeep towards Purgatory.

Putting her music on and her foot down, she rushed at breakneck speed down the road that wound through the barren and rocky landscape that made up that area. The trees beyond were a welcome splash of green even if there was something ominous about them. But then, everything around Purgatory held an ominous air thanks to the curse upon the Earps. Waverly wondered if anyone else felt it or if it was a feeling reserved for those who knew there were worse things that lurked in the night and called the Ghost River Triangle home than the coyotes that got unfairly blamed for everything from missing pets to attacks on hikers?

There was something about those trees though that sometimes made Waverly feel like _they_ were watching her and not anything that lived beneath them.

Shivering at the thought, Waverly put her foot down a little more, keeping it pressed until her Jeep bounced over the tracks on the edge of town.

Slowing down, she tapped her fingers along the top of the steering wheel. She debated for a second on if she should go to _Shorty’s_ or not but there was the possibility that Champ might talk to Wynonna and catch her in her lie. Turning right instead of left, she drove around the back of the buildings to the parking lot of the Purgatory Municipal Building.

She couldn’t see Nicole’s cruiser in the lot and hadn’t even realised she’d been looking for it until a wave of longing and disappointment washed through her. Wynonna’s truck was there, though. Actually, it was Gus’ truck but her aunt seemed resigned to the fact that Wynonna had laid claim to it now she was home.

Waverly looked around as she got out, even going as far as to check the other side of Wynonna’s truck and Dolls’ SUV before going inside but, there was no sign of Nicole’s cruiser or even Nicole herself. She wasn’t at her desk or in the break room… which kind of looked like a Wynonna-Esque bomb had gone off in it going by the dirty crockery, radioactive-looking stains, and spoiled milk left out in a way she was all too familiar with.

She could make out Sheriff Nedley’s shadow in his office but he had his blinds pulled down and his door shut in a clear sign that he wanted to be left alone. Even if the door was wide open, she didn’t think he would be best pleased if she started interrogating him about where Nicole was.

Giving up, for the time being, Waverly made her way across the hall from the Sheriff’s Department to the offices Dolls had claimed for Black Badge, much to Nedley’s chagrin. There was no need to guess which of the string of offices her sister was in as the scent of sweat and the slap of bodies hitting the padded mats drew her towards their makeshift training room.

Though…

The grunts and groans coming from within stilled her hand for just a moment at the very real possibility that with Wynonna, they might be doing something a little more naked, occurred to her.

“Again! Focus, Earp!”

“I am very focussed!”

The startled squeal, slap of flesh of mat, and pained groan from Wynonna convinced Waverly that her sister hadn’t been focussed enough and that it was pretty safe to assume that the kind of training going on was more to the kind the usually stoic-faced Deputy Marshal liked than Wynonna did, and that it was relatively safe to open the door.

“Safe to come in?”

“Only if you tag in for me, baby girl.”

“And deprive you of your fun?” she winced as Dolls put Wynonna in a painful-looking chokehold that wrenched her arm back. “You’re on your own, Wynonna. Hey, have you seen Nicole at all today?”

Wynonna slapped at Dolls’ muscular arm. “Jesus, you want to choke me that much you need to buy me some shots first, Dolls,” she teased, sucking in some much-needed air. “What do you want with Haughtsause, sis?”

“Nothing!” Waverly blustered, finding a sudden interest on a loose thread on her jacket. “Just didn’t see her on the way in and I wanted to thank her from bringing me supplies for my—” she broke off, blushing when she realised that Dolls was still right there.

“Well— Yo, dude, space please, sister time.”

“Fine. But we haven’t done training yet, Earp so, keep it short.”

“Dude is such a mood killer.”

“Oh please, just admit that you like it when he ties you up in knots.”

“Not denying that. Would be more fun if we were naked, though,” she waggled her eyebrows.

“I’m sure. Anyway… Nicole?”

“Not here,” Wynonna smirked.

“I could see that,” Waverly growled a little, her hormones getting the better of her despite herself. “Sorry, still a little on edge,” she blushed. The last thing she needed was to get all on edge and give Wynonna something to use against her.

“She’s on heat leave,” she finally stated after a long look at her baby sister. “Not sure which day it was, kind of all blurred together with all those decontamination showers. But, anyway, I was trying to find some hooch in Nedley’s office—”

“Wynonna!”

“Yeah, yeah, I know he only has that cheap shit but Doc and I had finished what was in BBD and I was desperate. He caught me before I could pick the lock on his filing cabinet but, before he could chew me out, Haught called while I was in there. You should have seen it,” snorting, Wynonna slapped at Waverly’s shoulder. “He accidentally put her on speaker midway through, right after telling her he couldn’t be without her because they hadn’t got the manpower. I thought his ‘stache was going to twitch right off his face when she had to tell him she needed time off ‘cause her heat had come earlier than expected.”

Just the thought of Nicole being in heat had every dirty thought that had seen her through her rut springing back to Waverly’s mind and had her taking a staggering step towards the door, her only desire to find Nicole and help her. Help her omega just as she had helped her!

“Sure she’ll be back in a couple of days once she’s done rubbing one out for herself or had a partner help out. Flame-headed smoke show like Nicole is bound to have someone waiting in the wings,” Wynonna sniggered, her attention already drawn to thoughts of the bottle of whiskey and box of doughnuts she’d stashed in her desk.

Waverly’s heart stuttered and crashed. Wynonna was right. Nicole had said she’d had a heat partner in college. And, just because she flirted with her and didn’t mention dating, that didn’t mean she wasn’t prepared for her heats. No doubt she had someone to call to help her through them one way or another.

“Oh yeah, saw Gus yesterday, she said that Curtis’ Will was all officially cleared now so what was yours is ready to collect. She made it sound like there was some big stuff, though, so you might want to get Chump to help out if you didn’t throw his back out during your rut.”

“Champ?” Waverly blinked, tuning herself belatedly into the conversation and the realisation that she had never been able to find the time or the will to explain to Wynonna that Champ wanted nothing to do with her during her rut. If she told her that he had been at one of the many strip joints around, probably under one of the strippers in one way or another, she would spend the rest of the day, if not the week, telling her to drop his cheating ass.

It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate Wynonna’s concern, she just found it hard to take from someone who had decided that it was best for her to up and leave her in a demon-infested town. And, there was that pesky matter of the guilt she was feeling for cheating on Champ with her rut-driven thoughts.

Imagination, smagination. It still felt like cheating to Waverly.

“Yeah, your _boyfriend_ , Champ,” Wynonna gagged audibly at the thought of him with her sister. “Small brain, tiny dick—“

“Hey,” Waverly defended him weakly.

“Hey, nothing! I saw that dick pic he sent you, remember?” she mimed sticking her finger down her throat and gagged again. “Just hope he lasts longer than that nine seconds he is so proud of—”

“It was eight seconds,” Waverly responded almost automatically after years of having the number drilled into her mind from his crowing about the oversized buckle he had won and had polished every Sunday until the gold paint had started to chip off and wear.

“Ouch! Never mind, baby girl. There’s toys, ointments, and all kinds of stuff for that now,” Wynonna patted her shoulder, a smirk playing around her lips at Waverly’s eye roll. “Hey, luckily he’s got big muscles and a bigger truck, so there’s that, right?”

“Right. Hey, seeing as I’m here, is there any research you need me to do?” Waverly asked hopefully and, ultimately, futilely as Wynonna gave a guilty glance towards the research she could see pinned up on one of the walls and deliberately steered her away.

It was frustrating, to say the least. She’d lived there, surrounded by demons, spending years compiling the research on the Revenants that they worked from daily but, months into their quest to beat the curse and kill the seventy-seven, starting with the seven that had killed their father and Willa, and Wynonna was still determined to ‘protect’ her by pushing her away and demanding she stay at the homestead.

She knew how to shoot… better than Wynonna and without the aid of a magical gun. She was tiny and bendy and could get into tight places… perfect for stakeouts. And, she was stronger than she looked… Wynonna had called her a pocket-sized Amazon. Granted, she wasn’t trying to be complimentary at the time as Waverly had just accidentally beaned her with the Jeep door and sent her flying but, Waverly was calling it one anyway and she was keeping that move in her repertoire.

_The point was… She could be useful, damn it! All she needed was a chance!_

A chance that obviously wasn’t coming that day or any time soon so, as the door to BBD closed on her face, Waverly reluctantly sent a text to Champ to ask if she could borrow him and his truck later in the week.

His reply came over an hour later as she was wiping down the bar and it dripped with the usual charm and level of seduction that Waverly had once found charming… when they were in high school. Now it just made her skin crawl and left her confused as to what he had read in her text asking for help collecting her beloved uncle's things that had made it sound like he was going to get laid?

“You okay, honey? Ya look like you’re about to burn a hole through your phone.”

“Yeah,” Waverly winced guiltily as the squeak in her voice made Gus’ brow arch into a line that screamed ‘liar!’. “I’m fine,” she assured her aunt, “just Champ being Champ,” she explained, wafting her phone around briefly before tucking it away in the pocket of her jeans.

“Everything okay with you and that boy?”

“As good as ever.” Her aunt's brows beetled together, forming a dark line beneath the steely grey of her hair where tight curls hung down over her forehead. Her aunt and uncle had both stayed out of her relationship with Champ. At the time, Waverly had thought that meant they approved but now she was starting to wonder as she realised that, more often than not, his name had caused _that_ expression over the years and, when Curtis had been alive, it had resulted in long looks and silent conversations between them that she missed now he was gone.

“Well, that’s fine then,” Gus finally stated.

But Waverly could see it then by the way her lips were pressed together so tightly it made them all but vanish, it wasn’t _fine_ at all but, before she could ask, her aunt changed the conversation back to work.

~~~~~~~~~~

It was early, the sun barely breaking over the roofs of the building but Waverly checked her watch again as she paced back and forth restlessly on a path that took her past the doors to the Municipal Building and around the corner to Main Street. She had barely slept all night, her mind and body had been jittering too much for something so mundane since she had seen Nicole’s name finally appear back on Nedley’s duty board.

Bouncing on her toes, she spun around, turned the corner and collided with a strong body. The warm scent of vanilla-dipped doughnuts rose up and filled her nose where it was pressed into the enticing gap of Nicole’s padded jacket.

She had no desire to move but Nicole’s strong arms held her close anyway, supporting her before she could bounce off her and hit the ground.

“Fancy running into you here.” Leaning back, Waverly smiled sheepishly up at Nicole. Her breath caught in her throat as she took in the vision before her and fought the urge to tunnel her fingers through Nicole’s hair where it lay loose around her shoulders, glimmering like fire in the rays of the morning sun.

She should step back, Waverly knew she should but, her will was too weak and Nicole’s body and smile radiated with a welcoming warmth that she melted into. Wrapping her arms around Nicole’s waist, she leaned into her, her eyes drifting shut.

“I missed you.”

“I missed you, too, Waves.”

Waverly thought she felt a kiss pressed against the crown of her head but put it down to her foolish imagination as they finally, and reluctantly for her part, stepped back from each other until their fingers finally parted.

“I— I thought maybe we could grab a drink at the diner?”

“Finally want to buy me that coffee, huh? And I thought maybe you were just lurking around to throw yourself and a pun at me.”

Nicole’s smile was bright and wide, full of the cocky charm Waverly had seen the first time they had met but, as bright as it was, her smile couldn’t disguise the dark circles under her eyes that not even her carefully-applied makeup could hide.

Before she could think better of it, her hand lifted and she watched as her thumb caressed a line across Nicole’s cheek. Her eyes widened at her own audacity and then Nicole’s response as she leaned into her touch and covered her hand with the warmth of hers.

“Long heat,” Nicole explained with a shrug and a soft, slightly wry smile. “Coffee then? Think I could go for some breakfast, too, if you want some?”

“And spend more time with my favourite person? You bet!” Smiling, Waverly held out her hand, wiggling her fingers in invitation for Nicole to take it. It felt like forever and not days since they had touched but the way their fingers entwined was warm and familiar and felt as thrilling as the first time all over again.

With a squeeze of her fingers and a gentle tug, Waverly started them moving. The street was quiet, the only traffic parked up outside the diners that were open ready to cater to the early risers and those who had just finished a late shift at the many bars or the factories on the edge of town. The quiet suited Waverly, though. It gave Nicole a moment longer to just be her and not an officer of the law, and it meant there was no need for them to let go of each others’ hands until they entered the dinner they preferred because it had the best food and drinks and was the furthest away from the station.

A growl unexpectedly clawed at Waverly’s throat as Jenny, the young, beta daughter of the owners, lifted her head as the door chime let out a soft trill. In an instant, she went from teenage boredom to smiling brightly, a predatory glint in her pale eyes as she looked Nicole up and down. As she was ignoring her, Waverly was treated to the sight of Jenny fluffing her hair and tugging on the hem of her top until her pushed up breasts threatened to spill out over the top.

“Put them away, girl,” Patty hissed at her daughter, “Waverly, Officer Haught—”

“Nicole,” Nicole reminded her fondly.

“Take a seat and _I’ll—”_ she stuck out her arm, stopping Jenny from leaving her position at the counter, “I’ll be right on over to take your order in a minute.”

They had done this so often that they already had a favourite table and they moved towards it, sliding into their usual seats opposite each other. Waverly wouldn’t give up the view it afforded her of Nicole’s beautiful features and the opportunity to stare into her soft, brown eyes but, sometimes, she wondered what it would be like to sit beside her close enough that their bodies touched with every breath?

Waverly’s hand moved unbidden across the plastic cloth covering the table and she watched as her fingertips stroked over the elegant length of Nicole’s fingers to play with the brightly-coloured ring encircling her finger. Her eyes darted up, catching the way Nicole’s breathing had deepened and slowed at her touch, and a pretty blush had risen across her cheeks before their eyes met.

Nicole’s eyes were wide, the colour had gone from their usual soft, earthy tones to limpid pools of darkness that drew Waverly in. What Nicole saw, Waverly could only guess at but it had Nicole softening more than usual.

Nicole was a strong woman in every sense of the word. More than capable of standing up to Wynonna and the worst drunken idiot at _Shorty’s_ … which was all too often Wynonna. But there was always that side to her that she only showed around Waverly that came out in a subtle lowering of her eyes or a tilt of her head that exposed her unmarked throat.

Even with her rut over, it was an invitation, unconscious or not, that Waverly had to fight to refuse. She dragged her eyes up from where they had somehow fallen to land on Nicole’s pulse but that just meant she was faced with the sight of Nicole’s tongue darting out to wet her lips and that just made Waverly remember her rut and all the things she had imagined Nicole doing with her tongue!

“Okay,” Patty tapped the end of her pen on her waiting notepad, “what can I get you both today?”

“Usual for me, Patty.” Waverly smiled up at her as she reluctantly released Nicole’s hand and leaned back in her seat in an effort to act like she hadn’t been fondling her friend’s hand and thinking about marking her neck with her teeth. _Nope, not me!_

“Nicole?”

Waverly couldn’t help the giggle that escaped when she realised that Nicole had vanished behind the tall, plastic-coated menu just like she did every single time Patty asked what they wanted. And every single time, Nicole would emerge to order the same things anyway.

“She’ll have the usual, too,” Waverly shared an eye roll with Patty and plucked the menu out of Nicole’s hands.

“Two usuals, comin’ right up!”

It was only after Patty had left that Waverly realised she had done something she hated Champ doing and had taken her autonomy from her.

“Oh— Shoot!”

“What?”

“I’m sorry, Nicole! I shouldn’t have ordered for you like that—”

“Hey, I really don’t mind.”

It was the blush that returned to Nicole’s face and not her words that stilled Waverly’s continued self-recriminations with the sudden realisation that maybe… _maybe_ , Nicole liked it as an omega when she made a decision for her?

She didn’t want to presume, though, and promised herself that she wouldn’t do it again… even if there was a part of her, deep down and puffing out its chest that liked caring for Nicole.

“Did Wynonna say what that slimy stuff was they got covered in that night?”

“Oh! That! The guy they were chasing threw something at them. It was harmless but they used the showers just in case.”

Waverly ducked her head, hiding her eyes in case Nicole had some kind of secret cop skills that would reveal that she was lying. She didn’t want to lie! But… the truth would reveal the dark underbelly and the reality of demons and the curse and Waverly wanted to protect her and keep her away from all the crazy.

Nicole’s eyes were searching her face as Waverly dared to look back up but, if Nicole saw something, she kept it to herself and thankfully, Patty filled in any silence that fell between them with the clatter of plates as she brought their food.

“I can’t thank you enough for what you did at the start of my rut,” Waverly whispered across the table when they were alone again. “The food… everything.”

“I’m just glad I could help. Did,” she paused, looking around to check their privacy. “Were you okay… after?”

Waverly felt herself blush as red as the tips of Nicole’s ears where they peeked out from her hair. “Yeah,” she swallowed, “it— it was much better than usual.” Waverly liked to think of herself as a modern kind of woman. Not the kind to usually shy away from discussions of a sexual nature. But, she seemed destined to flounder and blush with Nicole, more so than ever when looking at her just reminded her that she had spent a good part, okay, all of her rut, masturbating to thoughts of Nicole.

“I wish I could have been there to help you, too.”

_Not appropriate, Waverly Earp! True. But not appropriate!_

“Do they usually come on irregularly like that?”

_Stop talking!_

In an effort to still her wayward tongue, she crammed her mouth full of food until her cheeks felt like they would split from trying to hold it in.

“Not usually,” Nicole blushed.

It was then, only then, that Waverly remembered one reason all the textbooks agreed was a reason for heats and ruts to change.

_So much for being smart!_

Heats and ruts changed, syncing up when they had a partner to share them with.

“I’m just glad I had Janey there to help me out.”

_Of all things, why did Wynonna have to be right about that?_

“Janey?” The name worked its way loose, creeping out from behind the food she somehow managed to swallow despite it feeling like she was trying to get down a mouthful of sawdust and broken glass.

“Yeah. She’s great.”

Waverly didn’t want to know.

“You’ll love her.”

She really didn’t think she would.

“She’s so pretty and I just know you’ll get along.”

Her heart was broken. Shattered into a million pieces in her chest.

“I know. If you’re not doing anything when my shift ends you could meet her if you want?”

“Okay.”

When would the pain stop?!

~~~~~~~~~~

Waverly was still asking herself the same question hours later as she sat in the passenger seat of Nicole’s cruiser listening to Nicole exalting the virtues of the mysterious Janey. Every word broke her heart and grated on her soul even though it had no right to. It wasn’t like Nicole was hers in any way shape or form. She had the right to date whoever she wanted… even if it killed Waverly.

“…she’s a little on the hefty side and could really do with losing some weight…”

 _Just_ when _did Nicole get so unusually judgy anyway?_

“…beautiful ginger pussy…”

_Okay, that was way too much information!_

“…she’s so soft, Waves! You’ll love stroking her…”

_What?_

Waverly looked up briefly from her feet that were dragging her along in Nicole’s wake towards the front door of the house she was renting. Despite her shattered heart, she couldn’t help but breathe in the heady scent of vanilla-dipped doughnuts heavy with the thick notes of Nicole’s heat that filled the air as Nicole pushed open the door. Neither could she stop herself from taking in the pictures hanging on the wall of a smiling Nicole rock climbing, nor the decorations and books placed around the living room she stood in which spoke of her travels.

“…Nedley picked her up at the airport for me…”

“That was nice of him,” Waverly mumbled with a heavy, broken heart.

“Yeah, she hates men usually but, strangely, she seems to have taken to him and didn’t try to scratch his eyes out. Janey! Where you at, you little minx?”

“Scratch his—?”

“Are you in the damn closet again? Hold on a sec, Waves,” Nicole tutted. “Let me see if I can grab her.”

“What that—? Oh—” Waverly felt like slapping herself in the face as Nicole emerged from the small walk-in closet carrying a large, fluffy ginger cat with what had to be the judgiest gaze she had ever seen.

“Waverly, meet Calamity Jane.”

“She’s a cat?” _Not a girlfriend or a casual partner for helping with her heat… a cat!_ “You own a cat?”

“Yeah. I got her from a high kill rescue when I was in the academy. Took a little while to get her up here. Getting her settled and talking to her about you helped me through my heat, gave me something else to think about. Sometimes it’s more like she owns me and, I swear to god, Janey, I will work out how you keep getting into that closet,” she booped Calamity gently on her nose with a fingertip.

_She talked to her cat about her? That was kind of sweet._

Heat blossomed through Waverly’s chest, repairing the hurt her misunderstanding had inflicted upon her heart in an instant.

_She talked to her cat, about her._

“Hi, Calamity,” stepping closer, Waverly held out her hand for the giant cat cradled lovingly within Nicole’s arms to sniff at. Which she did imperiously with that judgy gaze still in place, making Waverly hope she could live up to the picture Nicole had painted of her. Calamity Jane’s nose lightly touching her fingers before she bopped them with her solid headbutt and released a loud purr Waverly felt vibrating through the air and slamming into her chest.

“Told you she would like you,” grinning in pleasure, Nicole put Calamity Jane down on the floor and watched as she slowly walked towards the kitchen to try and demand more food, all but the very tip of her striped tail sticking straight up in the air.

“Would you like a drink? I’ve got some of that Soothing Sunshine herbal tea you like.”

“You have? I haven’t been able to find that anywhere.” Not without it costing a small fortune to get it shipped to her, that was.

“I know how much you like it so I looked around.”

“In that case, I would love some,” moving closer, Waverly basked in the heat she swore she could feel radiating from Nicole’s blush. She wanted to reach out and touch her, but she restrained herself, digging her nails into the palm of her hand to do so. This time the lady in Nicole’s life had turned out to be a cat but Nicole wasn’t hers and she needed to accept the fact that one day there would be someone.

Nicole deserved someone. Of that, there was no doubt in Waverly’s mind.

So, why did it hurt so much to think about it?

~~~~~~~~~~

Without the distraction of her heat, Waverly had thought that maybe there would be a difference to being in Nicole’s orbit in such an intimate setting as their homes but, that was not the case at all. They easily fell into a rhythm as Waverly helped her make their drinks, moving around the kitchen together with ease, the small size making it easy to guess where things were instead of hindering.

Even Calamity Jane winding between their legs demanding food and attention just felt like a step in a dance they had performed a million times before.

Waverly didn’t want to compare her time with Nicole to that spent with Champ but it was hard not to as she was hard-pressed to remember a time when Champ had even bothered to step up and help her with anything.

When they had started dating in school, he had been too busy playing his computer games and had demanded drinks. When she had moved into her apartment above _Shorty’s_ and then out to the homestead, in fact, every time there was physical labour involved, his help had come with the understanding on his part that she would provide beer and sex for his minimal efforts.

A fact she was all too aware of as he leaned against the bed of his truck, a leer on his face and his body posed in what he obviously felt showed his body off the best as he ogled her while she loaded and unloaded box after box from the back.

Nicole would have helped. She knew she would have as Nicole had offered to rent a truck to help her clear out the storage unit before she was forced to pay another month’s rent on it to do just that when days had passed where Champ was too busy to do anything except play pool and get wasted with his friends.

Nicole’s offer had finally provoked Champ into action and Waverly had been reluctantly forced to accept before he had smothered her under the weight of his body after he threw himself over her and puffed up at Nicole in a display of posturing and dominance that was unwelcome and looked ridiculous on him.

Even then, he’d been late picking her up that morning and lazy every step of the way. And, when he wasn’t dodging work he was pawing at her body, going on about his dreams to own a bar in Buenos Aires, and bad-mouthing Nicole. The latter was what brought Waverly’s mood to boiling point.

“There’s just something about her that rubs me the wrong way, ya know?”

“She’s… nice—” her teeth clenched, biting back her snarl as he let out a snort at that.

“She’s always in the way. Fawning over you. It’s my job to help you out, not hers.”

“It’s not your job, either, Champ. Helping someone out should be something you want to do,” she gritted out.

“Speaking of helping out, we could head up to your room and you could help me out with this.”

Waverly stepped back sharply, anger and nausea waging a war within her as he waggled his eyebrows and cupped his cock through his jeans.

“Or I could just let it out here,” he offered, reaching for his zipper.

“No, that’s okay, Champ. I’ve got more important things to do than take care of your boner.”

“You always have these days. Can’t remember the last time you just shut your brain off and we had a little fun. You’re always hanging out with your sister and that _cop_ instead of me _,”_ he snarled bitterly, “Come on, babe,” he cooed, edging closer. “The truck is unloaded, Wynonna isn’t here, lets head inside, unwind and plan out our future.”

“I said no, Champ,” Waverly bit out, shrugging off the weight of his arm. “And I think you mean _your_ future. What _you_ want—”

“We’ve talked about moving to Buenos Aires—”

“No, you’ve talked about it. You were just excited at the thought of getting free drinks when I got the job at _Shorty’s_ and your big dream is to fish and sit on the beach watching all the tourists strut by in their string bikinis while I do the exact same job. You’ve never once asked me if I want to be a barmaid for the rest of my life.”

“So you’re saying you don’t want to move to Buenos Aires?”

“What I’m saying is,” Waverly sighed, “we’re done, Champ.”

“It’s because of _her_ isn’t it,” he snarled. “Fucking omega—”

“Don’t you dare! Nicole has nothing to do with this, Champ. If you want someone to blame, go look in a mirror and start by thinking about all the times you cheated on our relationship. We were young when we got together and it turns out that a boner and a pick-up aren't the whole enchilada. Yeah. We're done, Champ.”

Waverly felt a surge of peace, calm and rightness as the words that felt like they had been building for a very long time finally left her mouth.

“You’ll come back to me, you always do!”

“Not this time. Not anymore. Goodbye, Champ.”

It made her felt light and floaty, released of the burden of pretending that she was okay with how Champ had treated her for years.

~~~~~~~~~~

The waft of warm vanilla teasing her nose had Waverly shooting upright from where she had been crouched looking at the throw pillows on the bottom shelf of the display. Like a dog tracking a scent, she moved down the aisle, peering through the gaps in the shelving until her eyes locked in upon Nicole.

It had only been days but it felt like forever since she had seen her beyond the occasional glimpse at the station. While she had the chance, she ate her up with her eyes, taking in every little detail including the lines of worry wrinkling her brow as she talked to the assistant.

Pointed in the right direction… which, Waverly realised seemed to be where she was, Nicole turned and their eyes locked right through an unseasonal display of Halloween pumpkins and Christmas angels that were mixed together.

There was no startlement in Nicole’s eyes, just a growing warmth and a dawning smile that Waverly couldn’t help but respond to with one of her own. It was as though Nicole had known she was there all along. And, maybe she had and that made Waverly more than a little happy.

Scents belonged to alphas and omegas while betas were so unaffected by the scents of alphas and omegas that to them there was just nothing there. As an alpha, Waverly knew enough about her own scent to know what perfume would clash or compliment it but, she really didn’t know what she smelt like outside of the musk and arousal that came with her rut.

As Nicole strode towards her, her long, khaki-covered legs eating up the distance, Waverly couldn’t help but wonder if the slight flaring of her nostrils was because she was breathing in her scent as hungrily as she was taking in Nicole’s?

Moments later she was there, before her, the brim of her Stetson working back and forth between her long fingers. Her head tilted, nodding towards the display on the shelves behind Waverly.

“A real angel amongst the fake ones.”

Removing her teeth from where they had been worrying at her lip, Waverly dragged her eyes away from the exposed line of Nicole’s throat and looked behind her.

“Angel? At least you didn’t compare me to the pumpkins,” Waverly giggled, tapping her finger against one of the ridiculous grinning face on the nearest of the lurid orange, felt-covered figures.

“Naw, that one right there looks more like Calamity sulking, though,” reaching out, she tapped the one next to the one Waverly was touching.

“Oh, and what’s got your pussy in a mood? Cat! Pussy cat!” She hid her face behind her eyes, peeking out to watch as Nicole let out a rich chuckle that warmed her and brought her out of hiding.

“Sorry— that—“ she snorted softly, wiping at a tear at the corner of her eye. “Janey let me know she didn’t like one of the throw pillows on the couch and tore it up last night. It was one of those filled with those annoying balls. Gonna take forever to get all that up so I had to lock her in the bedroom so she can’t get it.”

“That stuff is nasty. When I was younger I had a stuffy with some in its butt for balance. The seam split apart. Couldn’t have been more than a handful in it but Gus was moaning months later when she was still finding it around the house.”

“Worse than glitter.”

“Not sure about that,” Waverly grumbled, her mind conjuring up memories of Champ’s clothing showing signs of the glitter the stripers got all over him even after being washed several times. “But, these pillows, here,” she picked a pretty blue and green one off the shelf and handed it to Nicole, “they get them locally, handmade by indigenous people. The stuffing is biodegradable and… yep… pet safe too,” she confirmed with a glance at the label.

“Perfect.”

There was a smokey tone to Nicole’s voice that had Waverly’s blood thickening, pumping through her veins like warm honey. Her body swayed towards Nicole, her mouth parting to pull in the scent rising from her body deep into her body.

A soft whimper falling from Nicole’s mouth into the space between them pulled Waverly back into herself. Drawing back, she thrust the pillow she was holding into Nicole’s arms before she grabbed her instead.

“I’ve eh— I’ve missed you the past couple of mornings. Everything okay?”

“Mhm. Actually, no. We’ve had a couple of really bad cases come in,” Nicole grimaced as she thought about the case files waiting for her on her desk. “I trust you but I can’t say anything more. Nedley will have my job and my hide hanging on his wall with those stuffed fish of his if he finds out I said anything—”

“I understand.” Waverly deflated, the usual annoyance at been dismissed rising within her. She could be useful, why could nobody see that?

“I wouldn’t if anything happened to you, though,” taking Waverly by the elbow, Nicole led her deeper into the shop away from prying ears. “There’ve been bodies dumped on the outskirts of the area. None of them have been a local but I need you to be careful. There’s just something that feels so familiar but I can’t quite put my finger on it yet and it’s driving me crazy trying to work it out.”

“You’ll work it out, I know you will,” she smiled encouragingly. It was obvious to Waverly that Nicole wanted to say more, just as it was obvious that she’d gone beyond what it was safe for her to reveal. She wondered if it was something she should tell Wynonna about but, knowing her sister's inability to do anything tactfully, it would take carefully-dropped hints to keep her from bursting into Nedley’s office and landing Nicole into trouble.

“Anyway, what are you doing in here? Besides helping out Sheriff’s Deputies with destructive pussy… cats.”

Head ducking at Nicole’s gentle teasing, Waverly gestured towards the cart she already had loaded up with lights, throw pillows, and strips of fabric.

“That’s— I’m impressed. That’s a lot of pillows, Waves.”

Waverly blushed furiously as Nicole reached out, the fine line of a perfectly-shaped eyebrow arching teasingly as she lifted a brightly coloured piece of silk. The fabric spilt over her fingers, the harsh store lights making the blues and purples of it shimmer prettily.

“That’s for my bedroom.”

“Silk. I’m glad you remembered.”

“I—”

Waverly knew Nicole was only teasing, throwing the memory back at her but, the husky, smoky tone of Nicole’s voice and the sight of the silk in her hand just drew her in. Dark and seductive, her thoughts lingered upon what it would look like tied around Nicole’s slender wrists and ankles, binding her to the bed. How it might shimmer in the light, purples and blues merging as the fabric tightened with each tug and pull as her body moved in pleasure beneath hers.

“Waves? You okay?”

“Mhm. Yeah.”

“Thought I lost you for a min then.”

“No just—” _picturing you naked in my bed, like usual._ “Just thinking about the party tonight.”

“A party, huh?”

“Yep. My friend, Stephanie Jones, she got engaged so we’re having a party for her at the homestead to celebrate. Not going to lie, kind of nervous about it. Still feels strange, being back at the homestead after so many years away,” she shuddered. Which is why I’m getting all this to try and distract myself from having people there and them from all the gaps in the walls and floors.

She also had a skull, that she may or may not be married to, to hide but that was probably not a good thing to bring up with Nicole being a cop and all.

“I can imagine. Not sure why you would want to be all the way out there in winter. I’m sure it was good in its day—”

“Actually, not much better than it is now,” Waverly shrugged wryly. “Pa was always too busy for decorating and repairing stuff around the homestead.” Nope, drinking and raising his fists had always been his style and then he had been gone.

“With your touch, it will soon be perfect,” Nicole smiled encouragingly. “And when it gets cold, if you need any help with firewood I’m pretty handy when it comes to swinging an axe.”

Waverly almost tripped over her own feet and her foolish drooling tongue at that bit of imagination fodder. Her eyes betrayed her, flicking over the width of Nicole’s shoulders and the muscles of her arms that she knew from touch lay hidden beneath the bulky fabric of her uniform.

_Yeah, she was storing that image away for later!_

“I’d better get back to work before Nedley gets back to the office and my lunch break runs over too much.”

“Okay,” Waverly sighed, missing Nicole even though she was still standing before her. It was on the tip of her tongue to invite her to the party even though she didn’t want Nicole being sullied by the petty snobbery that was a part of every word that came from Stephanie’s mouth.

“Those cases I didn’t mention will probably have me busy for a while so, if we don’t see each other before then—”

Waverly’s breath caught, her nostrils flooding with Nicole’s scent as she leaned down, so close it put her lips and teeth tantalisingly close to the greatest source of it at her pulse. Nicole’s breath and voice vibrated against her ear, stirring the baby-fine hair at the nape of Waverly’s nape.

“Enjoy your party tonight, Waves. I know it’ll go just great.”

Waverly followed Nicole’s body as she drew away, leaning into the warmth and scent of her and the calming comfort of her words. Her hands caught upon her forearms, the desire, the need, to pull her back and hold on to the moment almost more than she could stand.

She would have been more embarrassed at the whimper of disquiet that left her throat but it was tempered by a softly hummed note from Nicole and the brush of her fingers against the soft skin of the inside of her wrists that soothed her.

“Nicole—”

The radio on her shoulder suddenly burst to life, Sheriff Nedley’s voice ringing out with a string of numbers and codes that were distorted by the static on the radio. The codes meant nothing to Waverly but they made Nicole go pale, her voice and face holding a hardness as she answered with a string of numbers of her own.

“Waverly—”

“It’s okay,” Waverly smiled as reassuringly as she could through her concern. “You need to get to work. We’ll talk later, okay?”

“Stay safe.”

“You too,” Waverly whispered to the empty space where Nicole had stood. She picked the pillow Nicole had been forced to abandon back off the shelf and added it to what she was buying for the homestead to give to her later.

It was a small gesture but, if nothing else, Waverly hoped it would keep her in the good graces of Nicole’s pussy— cat.

Giggling to herself, Waverly returned to her shopping and tried to focus on that instead of listening to the wail of sirens as they headed out of town. It might not have been the reason but, the fact that Nicole had asked her to stay safe before she left had her believing that the call had something to do with the women who had been murdered.

Waverly checked her phone but, given the nature of Purgatory, she was disappointed but not surprised to find that there was no mention of any bodies on the news. Even the local gossip board was no use as Bunny Loblaw was spamming it with messages complaining about everything she could think of, from immigrants to her neighbours choice of lawn ornaments, as usual.

Wynonna had already threatened to egg her house for Halloween and, after seeing some homophobic comments, Waverly was more than ready to suggest using rotten eggs and help her throw a few.

As she made her way home, her Jeep almost overflowing with bags bulging with the decorations for the party and to make the homestead look more like a home than an abandoned shack on the verge of collapse, Waverly listened out for police sirens or a glimpse of Nicole’s cruiser but the road was clear of every bit of traffic between the town and the homestead.

She put the pillow she had got for Nicole away in her bedroom and sent her a message to let her know. A smile crossed her face as she caught the hint of Nicole’s scent still lingering on the fabric just as a heart emoji appeared on her phone.

The silk… she would never admit it but, she might have cut it into scarf sized pieces and put that away in her bedroom, too, before changing into her best party dress. Straightening the figure-hugging material, she made her way downstairs, the heavy kitchen scissors twirling between her fingers ready to despatch any labels and price tags she found on the stack of pillows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN - So, that was the breakup of Waverly and Champ. He will be back but, for now, Waverly is single and he will not cause problems between our girls.
> 
> I'm hoping this story isn't coming off as too choppy. For the most part it is following events that happen in the show but I don't want to rewrite every scene so I am skipping across the surface of them. The story will probably divert more when they are together... mostly so I can try to get them into some sexy times. Hopefully that (and they) will be coming soon.


	4. Two-Faced Jack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place around and just after S01E08, when Nicole is in hospital after Jack left her for dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN - Shout out to GetItGirl for her beta work :)

Waverly had had little reason to visit the hospital over the years outside of the occasional visit with Champ after a steer had almost busted his nose and another time when some stupid game between Champ and his buddies had ended with his ass getting peppered with salt rock by Old Man Jessop and his trusty shotgun.

She’s always disliked them though, hospitals. There was just a feeling about them that started at the first glimpse of the building that settled over her as soon as she stepped through the doors and into the solemnity of the interior. Just as stepping into a church had a strange reverence to it that just made you feel like you had to dress up in your Sunday best and be better, do better. Hospitals made you feel like you were always one step away from death. It was in the feel of the place, the quietness of it and the stench that no amount of disinfectant could hide. It knocked you down and stripped away all joy.

Waverly had felt it every single time. But no more so than earlier than very day, watching from the doorway, scared and terrified as Doc and Dolls had questioned Nicole about the attack that had happened after she had driven away from the homestead with Wynonna.

She had run away as soon as she could, her heart shattering, tears streaming down her face; More because Nicole had gotten caught up in their curse and been hurt than because Wynonna was still missing.

Hurt? Nicole had died! Died! Her body left for dead, battered and broken at the side of the road, the life returned to her only because of the timely arrival of help in the form of a random passing motorist spotting her and the EMS that had had to resuscitate her on-site.

Waverly didn’t want to be there, she wanted with all her heart to go back to that moment she had last seen Nicole at the homestead even though it came with the cloud of Stephanie’s death and the small matter of her scissoring a stripper. But, her last sight of Nicole before she had driven away, was of the tenseness that had been clinging to her when she had talked to Wynonna falling away, a soft smile spreading across her lips as their eyes had met, her gloved hand lifting in a small wave just for her eyes to see. The sun had glinted off her, creating a golden glow of her hair, eyes and skin that had made her look vital and alive.

A glow that was all but lost now as she lay upon the hospital bed, her tall, slender body looking pale and lost upon the narrow bed, her hair the only bright spot of colour where it lay loose across the thin, too-white pillows.

Waverly hugged her sprained arm to her, using the pain caused by her fingers digging through the sling supporting it into bruised flesh to ground her as she stepped through the doorway and edged closer to the bed. As she moved closer, she watched the rise and fall of Nicole’s chest beneath the thin layer of blankets.

A chest Waverly knew was bruised and hurting from Jack’s boots stomping and kicking her because she wasn’t his type. If she had been, she would have still been missing along with Wynonna or dead on a slab, her organs removed.

She didn’t realise the whimper she’d been trying to hold back had escaped until Nicole’s voice whispered out, rough and slurred thanks to the drugs holding the pain at bay.

“Waves?”

All the nervousness and shame Waverly had been feeling for how she had left earlier fell away at Nicole’s tremulous whisper of her name. Closing the distance, she laid a hand upon Nicole’s shoulder, gently restraining her before she could attempt to sit up.

“It’s okay, don’t try to move too much,” she ordered softly. Her heart tripped against her ribs as Nicole’s head turned on the pillow to follow her voice, her motion bringing her cheek and lips into contact with her hand in what almost felt like a kiss.

“Waverly?”

“It’s me, Nicole.”

“Wynonna? Is— is she—”

Her voice was heavily slurred, brining out the faint hint of an accent, her eyes were dull and heavily lidded but focussed determinedly on her.

“Doc and Dolls are still out looking for her.” At least that was what Waverly knew they had been doing but in the hours since then, there had been nothing from them and she could only guess as to how everything was going and hope she would see Wynonna soon or ever again.

“I- I’m sorry I failed. Sorry I couldn’t stop ‘im.”

“Hey, no. No. Don’t you do that, you hear,” Waverly quickly shushed her.

“I should—”

Waverly pressed her back against the thin mattress. “You survived. I— That’s—” she swallowed heavily, screwing her eyes shut against the tears stinging them. “You survived, Nicole,” she gently carded her fingers through Nicole’s hair, brushing the soft strands back from where they were clinging to the butterfly sutures holding the cut above her eyebrow closed.

“I-I almost lost you,” she choked out brokenly, pressing kisses to the palm of Nicole’s bandaged hand as it lifted to cup her cheek. “I can’t lose you, too, Nicole.” The Earp curse had already taken so much from her and she couldn’t bear the thought of it taking the one bright joy in her life that was Nicole from her.

She wouldn’t, couldn’t, allow it.

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

Waverly stood up, gently placing Nicole’s hand back upon the bed. She had to leave. Had to let Nicole go to keep her safe.

“Don’ leave.”

Waverly glanced back, her eyes dropping to where Nicole’s hand was wrapped around her wrist, the gentle restraint of flesh stopping her from walking away.

“Stay. Please.”

“I should—”

“Please.”

Mesmerisingly soft, brown eyes blinked up at her and Waverly was rendered powerless to do anything other than follow their gentle pull and the tug of Nicole’s hand. She tried to resist long enough to pull the visitors' chair closer to the bed but Nicole was insistent, pulling her closer.

“Nicole—”

“Please.”

It was entirely unfair how Nicole could manage to look alluring and like a giant puppy while drugged to the gills but, she managed it, and before Waverly could think better of it, she found herself toeing off her boots and slipping under the covers which Nicole flipped back and onto the thin hospital bed with her.

 _Just until she falls asleep!_ Waverly told herself as she turned onto her side, tucking herself into the warm curve of Nicole’s body with all the care she could so as not to jostle her battered body.

Waverly drifted off without realising, lulled by the heat and comfort of Nicole’s presence. She stirred sometime later, pulled from sleep by a whimper of Nicole that faded as quickly as it was born as Nicole shifted and found a more comfortable position with her head tucked against her.

With her fingers running through Nicole’s hair and over the nape of her neck, Waverly drifted back towards sleep, her mind and body feeling like it was floating with every breath that puffed out warmly against her pulse.

“My alpha.”

The sleepy words breathed against her flesh merged with her own wants and desires and barely stirred her from her dreams as she responded with a purred “mine” and snuggled closer, her free hand curling possessively over Nicole’s hip.

~~~~~~~~~~

“How’s Wynonna?”

“She’s… Wynonna,” Waverly huffed in frustration as she made her way towards Nicole’s kitchen. Calamity Jane wound her way between her ankles, her demanding purr vibrating up Waverly’s legs with increasing fury the longer she took putting the bag of food down on the table.

“Hi, CJ,” bending down, she ran her fingertips down the huge cat’s arched spine. She chuckled lightly as CJ’s tail jittered and twitched in what she had come to know was the feline’s way of showing her approval. “You,” turning, she pointed at Nicole and arched a brow in warning, “go sit back down.”

“I just came to—”

“Sit! I’ve got this,” Waverly wiggled her fingers, shooing Nicole away from the kitchen. She smiled as the omega turned and skulked away unable to hide her little smile and tilt of her head. Waverly’s smile dimmed, her brow furrowing in concern as Nicole failed miserably to hide her wince and the way she had to protect her ribs as she obediently settled down on the couch.

Really, Waverly thought that Nicole should still be in bed and she let her feelings be known by clattering around the kitchen and putting the old kettle on the stove with just a little more force than was necessary.

Nicole was stubborn, fuelled by a need to protect everyone in a way that her body just wasn’t ready for. Resting on the couch had been the best they could get her to agree to after Nedley had threatened to arrest her and cuff her to her bed if she even thought about working before she was cleared for duty.

“What’s Wynonna doing that’s so Wynonna?” Nicole questioned.

A huff left Waverly as she thought about her sister. “Pretending that everything is fine.” She paused, gathering her thoughts. “I’ve tried talking to her about what happened but she dodges every question and then heads to the nearest bar and drains it dry.”

“Maybe she needs it to be that way to cope? I’m not saying it’s a healthy response but from what I’ve seen of Wynonna since I got here, she doesn’t exactly do healthy responses to anything.”

“Nope, healthy anything has never really been a part of Wynonna’s vocabulary. Which is understandable… just not—”

“Healthy?”

Letting out a soft, wry chuckle of acknowledgement, Waverly finished setting up a tray of their food and poured boiling water into their waiting mugs.

“After what she went through when she was younger, I don’t think Wynonna would ever trust a therapist but she could really do with one.” But who was there to talk to about a family curse who wouldn’t think they were all insane and have them committed?

“I could imagine. Erm, Nedley made me go through Wynonna’s file. I think he just wanted me to be aware before I heard any gossip around town,” Nicole admitted with a grimace, her head tilting as an unhappy noise escaped her.

“And you still want to be around any of us?”

“Nedley also gave me your father’s file, Waverly.”

“Oh?” Waverly’s fingers stilled, the spoon she had been using to stir the tea clattering against the side of the mug.

“Both files were redacted in their own ways, Wynonna’s because of her age and Ward’s because he was the Sheriff. Files like that, they make you good at reading between the lines.”

“And what did you see?”

“That Wynonna was wild and badly mistreated by the system that should have protected her. And, not to speak ill of the dead but, I’m sorry, your dad was kind of a dick.”

A noise escaped Waverly that was something between a snort and choked tears from the tone of Nicole’s voice. Turning her head, she saw Nicole watching her over the back of the couch. The look in her eyes matched the simmering anger she’d heard when she’d spoken about her pa.

It was… warming.

“Yeah, he kind of was. Mama got it the worst of it. I think for the rest of us… we grew up just knowing him that way. We loved him even when we were hiding from his moods because we didn’t know any better.”

“Abuse is like that, especially for children. I don’t want to point out how amazing you are, not that you’re not. I just think sometimes that sounds like he made you into the woman you are when it’s in spite of him not because of him.”

“You think I’m amazing?”

“I think you’re more than amazing.”

Blushing, Waverly picked up the tray and made her way over to Nicole. She tutted at her as she went to help and placed it down on the coffee table before the couch. Calamity hopped up beside the tray, her nose and tail twitching as she looked at what was on offer.

“Janey!” Nicole reprimanded to no avail.

Chuckling, Waverly placed a small dish of treats down on the floor and put Calamity down beside them. The ginger cat sniffed at the dish and sat down, her expression never changing yet somehow managing to convey her displeasure of what was on offer.

“I swear she knows they’re diet treats,” Nicole shook her head.

“She does now you just told her,” Waverly laughed. “Here,” she handed Nicole her white container of Mi Kho from the new Vietnamese place in town and a pair of wrapped chopsticks before she could try reaching for them herself.

“So, did Nedley have anything to say about me?” she asked around the first mouthful of her own food. Nicole’s head lifted, a noodle escaping her chopsticks to fall back into the container in her hands. There was a look in her eyes that Waverly couldn’t quite decipher before she glanced back down almost coyly but whatever it was she saw it made something within Waverly perk up in interest.

“Nothing but good things but, I knew from the moment I saw you that I wanted to know you in any way I could, Waverly.”

Her voice was smokey, brushing against nerve endings Waverly hadn’t realised existed with a velvet touch that sent a shiver racing to the small of her back and up and down her spine, exploding at the base of her skull and pooling as heat between her thighs.

She shifted around on the couch, pressing her thighs together to still their quivering urge to part. Blushing, she pushed her food around the container with her chopsticks.

There were times, this being one of them, when her burgeoning feelings for Nicole made her question everything she had thought she had known about herself and her sexuality.

She had gone back and forth time and again on if her attraction was because Nicole was an omega but, after a lot of soul-searching, research, and online quizzes, she’d come to realise that her feelings went much deeper and further back. And maybe, her appreciation of certain actresses, models, and girls in school weren’t just childish jealously or whatever she had told herself at the time.

With Nicole, the alpha and omega sides of them only accentuated everything. If things had been better with Champ, it would have made no difference, her connection to Champ would have been stronger. As it was, their relationship hadn’t been working for years, if it ever had been at all. It had been familiar, sometimes comforting in its familiarity even when Champ was cheating on her.

She deserved better.

Didn’t she?

The woman at her side gave her hope that she did. Nicole made her forget the curse hanging over her head and the whole town. She gave her hope with a glance and a smile and Waverly clung to that as they finished their food and settled down to watch TV together with Calamity Jane curled up on the throw cover draped over their laps.

It was comforting. A new normal Waverly felt she could get used to even though she knew the monsters that lurked outside just waiting to add to the cuts and bruises still showing on Nicole’s body.

She brushed her thumb oh-so-lightly across the faint line of the cut above Nicole’s left eyebrow, tracing it down to the childhood scars around her eye and cheek. If she could, she would kiss them away. Erase the memories of what had hurt her and replace them with new, better ones. She almost tried. Her head closing the already infinitesimal gap to where Nicole’s head had fallen against her shoulder. But, Nicole stirred, a soft, sleepy grumble coming from her as she nestled closer.

“Come on, sleepyhead.” Folding back the covers, much to Calamity Jane’s disgust, Waverly turned off the TV. “Time to get you to bed,” she urged, pulling Nicole to her feet.

“Mmm, now there’s an offer I can’t refuse.”

“That look you’re attempting right there… that would work so much better if you weren’t about to fall over and sleep on the floor,” Waverly teased gently, pushing and urging Nicole to get her cute butt moving towards the stairs.

“But, I miss you when you leave,” Nicole whined.

“I miss you, too. Need you to get moving, though, Nicole. One foot in front of the other. Don’t make me throw you over my shoulder.”

“If you stay we won’t have to miss each other.”

Waverly would have to be blind not to see the offer of more than just a bed to sleep in written in Nicole’s darkening eyes that flickered to her lips, and stupid not to feel it in the warmth of Nicole’s fingers searching for contact with her own.

But…

The uncertainty was there, questioning her desires and making her so woefully aware that she knew absolutely nothing about being with a woman. What if she sucked at it? What if she did something Nicole didn’t like?

There were just too many unknowns and that was terrifying for a woman who was a planner!

“I can’t! I— erm— I’m supposed to be helping Gus out at _Shorty’s_ first thing and I want to talk to Wynonna first!”

“Are you okay?”

Waverly knew she was being weird and talking too fast and loud but she couldn’t seem to stop herself.

“Fine! I’m fine— Really, I’m—”

“Fine?” Nicole smiled sadly.

“Yeah!” Waverly took a breath, centring herself. “Really, I’m okay. You need to sleep, though, so I’ll let myself out. I’ll see you at the usual time tomorrow, though?” Waverly smiled hopefully up at Nicole but there was a shift in Nicole’s expression, a tightening around her jaw as she drew herself up and closed herself off behind a protective wall.

“I won’t be here. I’ve got several appointments in the city so I’ll be staying over for a day or two.”

There was a coldness in Nicole’s eyes and an unwillingness to meet her gaze that was so alien to Waverly it knocked her back even as she reached out to close the divide that had appeared between them but, Nicole shifted away just enough to make it clear her touch was unwanted.

“Nicole—”

“I made you feel uncomfortable. I’m sorry, I thought—” she broke off with a ragged sigh that came from somewhere deep within her. “What I thought doesn’t matter. I never meant to do that. I’ll probably see you around the station when I get back.”

Before Waverly could even absorb what was happening or say a word, she found herself ushered out of the house the door closing behind her.

She wanted to pound her fists against the door until Nicole opened the door and let her in and explained what the hecking heck had just happened. She raised her fist to do just that and then froze with her hand hovering above the wood. For all the gnashing of teeth her alpha side was doing, Waverly sensed she would be best off working out her own feelings before she did anything else.

Pressing her hand flat to the door, she leaned her forehead against it and breathed in Nicole’s scent made bitter with unhappiness just the other side of the wood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN - Apologies for the moment of angst at the end. It will be brief. At that time in season 1 though, Waverly was still working herself out and no doubt Nicole was being noble and not pressuring her. In this, Nicole decided with how Waverly was acting that she had made her uncomfortable.
> 
> Now, as to what she's up to in the city... Could be trying to get divorce papers sorted... Could be tests to see how she's healing in body and mind... I'm not saying ;)


	5. Bury Me With My Guns On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takes place during S01E09 *starts humming Wildwood*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN - Thanks as always to GetItGirl for going through this for me :)

_“Remember, some of the best things in life are the surprises it throws us. About what we want._ Who _we want. You've always been an honest kid. Don't stop now, hmm?”_

~~~~~~~~~~

Her aunt’s words and the understanding in her voice had cleared Waverly’s mind in an instant. Giving her a clarity that had been sorely lacking with everything that had been happening around her making her feel like her life was spiralling out of control.

From Gus selling _Shorty’s_ , to Wynonna’s continued erratic behaviour.

 _“What we want._ Who _we want.”_

That was easy. Waverly wanted Nicole.

“ _Don't stop now, hmm?”_

_Catching her aunt unawares, Waverly planted a kiss on her cheek, grabbed her coat and scarf up from behind the bar and all but ran out of the bar, narrowly skirting around Sheriff Nedley as he opened the door._

_“Whoa, careful there, Waverly.”_

_“_ Sorry, Sheriff! Erm, is Nicole at the station?” She asked breathlessly as she hurriedly pulled on her coat and looped her scarf around her neck.

“Always is at this time.”

“Okay. Cool, cool, cool. Enjoy happy hour!”

Turning, Waverly walked across the road at a brisk pace that hopefully didn’t look as though she was on the verge of running. Her heart raced with every step, pounding against her ribcage in a rapid beat that reflected her nervous anticipation.

The chill, autumnal air which felt like it had rolled straight down off the snow-capped Rockies to cut right through the centre of Purgatory didn’t even begin to cool the heat in Waverly’s cheeks as her feet took her over the exact spot outside the Municipal building where they’d managed to have a conversation together about completely different things.

_“No, I get it. You're a lesbian, not a unicorn, right?”_

_“What?”_

_“What?”_

So much for her first attempt at letting Nicole know her jumbled feelings.

She sucked in a fortifying breath as she pushed open the door and stepped into the slightly warmer air within the building. Instantly the scent of Nicole flowed into her from the direction of the Sheriff’s Department, permeating every inch of her being.

It tugged her down the corridor, her heart and body pounding over and over to the tattoo of…

Nicole… Omega…

Nicole… Omega…

Nicole…

Omega…

Nicole…

Nicole.

She was there before her as she turned the corner, sitting at the high, reception desk that separated the public from the bullpen and the Sheriff’s office. Her head was bent, her tightly-braided red hair shining in the light above the desk as she wrote on several pages attached to a clipboard.

Waverly’s eyes remained fixed on her, studying the professional mask carefully fixed in place as she stepped to the side to avoid bumping into the elderly file clerk as she turned around. Though Nicole was being oh-so-careful and professional, Waverly caught the slight flaring of her nostrils and knew that the omega was taking in her scent and knew she was there even if she didn’t react even when she was standing right before her at the desk.

“Hey, Nedley out for dinner?” Waverly asked even though she knew exactly where he was. She didn’t even listen as Nicole confirmed what she knew, her eyes glancing instead to the one room she knew was guaranteed to be empty for the next hour.

“Uhh, you mean _Happy Hour_ at _Shorty's_? Same time every day. Kind of like clockwork.”

Waverly had entered the station with no other plan in her mind beyond seeing Nicole and hearing the cautious voice and seeing it in her eyes spurred her into action. She pushed through the swing gate at the end of the reception desk, catching Nicole unawares as she hurried past and made her way into Nedley’s empty office.

It wasn’t the most private of spaces but it would be enough to give her the chance to speak her mind.

“Hey.”

Ignoring Nicole, Waverly quickly placed her bag on Nedley’s desk, almost knocking his beloved mug to the ground in her haste. Stripping off her coat and tossing it onto the couch, her hands already reaching for the chord of the nearest window blind with trembling fingers. Outside of the room, she could hear Nicole standing up from her chair to follow her.

“Wave!”

She appeared at the door, blocking her way as Waverly got the last blind closed.

“Hey!”

“Excuse me.” With a hand on Nicole’s arm, Waverly moved Nicole aside, drawing her deeper into the room so she could shut the door.

“What is your problem? Why are you...”

All thoughts of talking left Waverly as she surged up onto her toes, her hands grasping at Nicole’s shoulder and the nape of her neck as she silenced Nicole’s protests beneath a kiss that was desperate, inelegant, and so very right even as they tumbled together onto the couch.

Waverly’s hips curled forward, fighting against the restraint of Nicole’s hands as her body and mouth sought for greater contact with her omega’s body.

“What happened to friends?” Nicole asked breathlessly.

Waverly sat upright, her mouth running away with her as she tried to explain her feelings. How some of the things she had always wanted to do, were also the things that scared her the most.

Nicole’s expression went from confusion to a soft understanding that had her lips curving into an equally soft smile that had Waverly’s heart soaring.

“I scare you?”

“Yes. Yes, you do. Because I don’t want to be friends. When I think about what I want to do most in this world... it's you. Oh, God,” Waverly grimaced in embarrassment, “that sounded so much more romantic in my head. Just jump in any time, Nicole, because I really, really don't know how to do this.”

“Oh, I’m sure you do,” Nicole purred huskily.

“Maybe I should just stop talking.”

“See? You're getting better at this already.”

Waverly resisted the pull of Nicole’s hands on her scarf, delighting in the way she leaned forward to try and claim a kiss, her scent thickening and eyes darkening with need.

“Maybe you should stop talking, too,” Waverly ordered softly, her eyes dropping to the full pout of Nicole’s lips before lifting to her smokey brown eyes.

“Maybe you should make me,” Nicole challenged her with a cocksure smile that brought her dimples into play.

Waverly surged forward again, meeting Nicole’s challenge and her lips head-on. Their second kiss, while softer, was no less desperate and no less perfect for it. In a move that was gentle, powerful, and utterly breathtaking, Waverly found herself lying under Nicole’s body.

A hand gripped her thigh, lifting her leg to make room for the roll of Nicole's hips into hers. The startling heat of it had her body melting, her hands grasping for purchase of Nicole’s shoulder and neck as their lips joined together over and over again.

Kissing girls. Kissing Nicole, was one of the many things Waverly had stressed about. Having only kissed boys, would she like it? Would it be too different?

It was different.

But in _all_ the best ways.

Nicole’s lips were soft and giving even in her hunger. Their lips melted together like liquid silk, learning each others taste. The brush of Nicole’s tongue was a delicate swipe, tasting and teasing in a way that set fire to Waverly’s nerve endings instead of demanding entry or just taking with bruising force how Champ had.

Wrapping her fingers around the softness of Nicole’s braid, Waverly pulled slowly but firmly. She didn’t even realise what she was doing until their lips lost contact and a breathy moan fell in the space between them as Nicole lifted her head. Her brown eyes were lidded with desire as she arched back under the control of her hand, her lips parting softly on another breathy moan that made Waverly _ache_ to find out what other noises she could pull from her.

Which was probably something they should explore somewhere other than on the couch in the Sheriff’s office where anyone, including her sister, could walk in. But… she couldn’t resist searching for more right there and then.

With the long lines of Nicole’s throat on glorious display, Waverly followed them with her lips, painted moist stripes upon sweetly scented flesh with her tongue and teased the taut lines of muscles and tendons with her teeth.

Nicole’s head tilted, offering up her pulse and the scented gland there, begging with a whimper for her attention there. It was a sight that made Waverly’s teeth ache and her hips thrust.

But…

Somewhere too close to be ignored, a door slammed and Waverly heard the familiar clomp of boots upon the floor that sounded very Wynonna-ish and it pulled them apart.

“When do you get off? Off work!” she amended with a groan at Nicole’s chuckle.

“In a couple of hours. I’m only cleared for desk duty this week,” Nicole pouted.

“Meet with me afterwards?” Waverly asked nervously. “I think we need to talk more.”

“Just _talk_?”

“Maybe more than talking… If you’re good,” Waverly teased lowly, her eyes dropping to Nicole’s kiss swollen lips and the patch of skin left on tantalising display by Nicole’s war on top buttons.

“Oh, I’m always good,” she purred teasingly.

“We’ll see. Your place? I don’t think either of us is ready for the hell that is Wynonna if she found out about… us.”

Waverly wasn’t ashamed of how she felt about Nicole in the least but Wynonna could be… She could be Wynonna. And while Wynonna actually seemed to like Nicole, which was a miracle in itself given her fractious past with the law, Waverly wanted to keep Nicole and what they had to herself before subjecting Nicole to all of _that_.

~~~~~~~~~~

It felt like a lifetime had passed by since Waverly had been right back where she was, but there she was, standing before Nicole’s house with her fist lifted to knock on the brown-painted door. Her fist paused again, stilled by the eruption of butterflies that took wing in her stomach.

Biting her lip, she went to knock but before she could do more than think about it, the door opened to reveal Nicole standing there.

It never ceased to amaze Waverly how different Nicole looked out of uniform. No, it wasn’t so much how she looked, it was how she acted… around her. Nicole in uniform was professional but caring, the starched fabric creating a barrier between them that Waverly knew had a lot of people around Purgatory thinking she was a Beta or even an Alpha. Out of uniform, Nicole was generally softer, her whole body and demeanour more relaxed but, right then, in her dark, skintight jeans and burgundy sweater, she was softer than Waverly had ever seen her.

Waverly could see the nervousness she was feeling reflected back at her from Nicole as her soft brown eyes glanced up at her as she ducked her head. Just the knowledge that she wasn’t the only one feeling nervous gave Waverly the strength to unstick her feet from where they had taken root and step in through the open door even if it didn’t remove the fluttering that had her glancing around at the furnishings she’d seen many times before as though she was seeing them for the first time as she took her coat off.

Realising what she was doing, she let out a soft giggle that had Nicole’s brows climbing questioningly as she hung her coat up on the rack by the door for her.

“Sorry. I didn’t realise how nervous I would be,” Waverly tried to explain. Her hands fluttered around, gesturing to the room and then to Nicole, her voice softening as she stepped a little closer, reassuring herself and Nicole that she wanted to be there with her. “It feels like I’m treading on new ground. Seeing things and possibilities I never realised were open to me before.”

“I kind of get that,” Nicole smiled wryly. “I’ve changed three times and been pacing a hole in the floor since I got home.”

“You have?” Waverly whispered, her voice made breathy with wonder.

“Yeah,” Nicole smiled, her head ducking shyly. “You kind of scare me, too, Waverly. This. You. It all feels important and I don’t want to screw it up.”

So much for the cocky cop that had strutted into _Shorty’s_ , Waverly thought. “You seemed so sure of yourself when you came into _Shorty’s_ that first time.”

“You only think that because you didn’t see how many times over the week before I chickened out of opening that door.”

“Ahh, that explains why the card was so creased. I had wondered.”

“Yeah,” Nicole chuckled. “Took all my nerve and when I did I was greeted with _that_ and blurted out the most dudebro line in my life.”

“You mean you aren’t usually that smooth when faced with a woman soaked in beer?” Waverly gave a fake gasp.

“I’ve had better moments.”

“It was very… _bold_ of you.”

“I’m just glad it worked and you didn’t throw anything at me.”

“Nicole. How did you know it would work?”

Nicole’s head tilted at her soft question, a knowing look crossing her face.

“You’re wondering if I saw something gay in you?”

“I guess,” Waverly admitted hoping she wasn’t somehow offending Nicole. “It's just— _I_ didn’t know. I’ve been stuck in a small town my whole life, hiding because of my name to the point I didn’t realise. And then you came in and it was like something awakened inside of me and I felt alive. I saw you and even though it feels like I’m stumbling along working out where I fit into everything. What I want. _Who_ I want.”

Her words faded away, her eyes lifting at the gentle brush of Nicole’s thumb across her jaw. Cupping Nicole’s hand in hers, she leaned into the warmth of Nicole’s touch.

“Did you know?”

“I learned early on that it works best to make your intentions clear when approaching a girl. But, no, all I had until you started stuttering about having a boy-man was hope,” Nicole chuckled. “Until you jumped me in Nedley’s office I wasn’t sure I wasn’t going to get friend-zoned. I’m glad I didn’t.”

“With how I felt when I saw you. When I caught your scent—” turning her head, she nosed at Nicole’s wrist for emphasis. “It might have taken me a bit longer but I don’t think it would have taken me forever.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. When I think of you, when I’m with you, it feels like I’m falling. I’m scared, Nicole but, I feel safe at the same time.”

“That’s because I’ll always catch you,” Nicole stated with a soft surety. “I’ll catch you and help you fly. Whatever happens between us, I will always catch you.”

Waverly slid her hands up along Nicole’s arms to wrap her fingers in the baby fine hair at the nape of her neck. They moved slowly closer, their heads tilting and anticipation building between them as their mouths drew closer together at an almost glacial speed as slow and sweet as honey.

And then Calamity Jane made her presence known with a Wynonna level of timing and a throaty MEOW that made them startle guiltily. Their lips parting before they even touched but it didn’t break them apart. With their foreheads resting together, Waverly breathed in the scent and feel of Nicole’s body pressed against her own.

“I think she missed you more than me when I was away,” Nicole chuckled.

“Oh my gosh! She looks— _fat_ ,” Waverly finished on a whisper so as not to offend Calamity. “Sorry, Janey, but you kind of do,” she shrugged, poking the cat in the side at her offended glare.

“Yeah, Nedley didn’t secure her treats properly and diet only means diet when the whole pack isn’t eaten in one sitting. And, the chubby minx, conned him out of extra food before he realised what she’d done.”

Waverly stifled a giggle against Nicole’s shoulder as Calamity let out a disgruntled _merp_ and strutted away into the kitchen with her tail raised like a flag and her hopes no doubt high for some treats falling her way.

“Would you like something to drink? We could order in some food, too?”

“I’d like that,” Waverly smiled, the familiarity of their usual routine worked to settle her nerves even more, releasing a pressure she hadn’t been aware she was still holding. She followed Nicole into the small kitchen instead of retreating to the couch, her need to keep contact with her omega even just through sight too great for her to deny.

In the end, she ended up helping by brewing her favourite tea and keeping Calamity from underfoot while Nicole brewed her coffee and washed up dishes from the morning while they decided on what to order.

It felt easy and relaxing. Maybe even a glimpse into a future that was opening up for them. A future it was really too soon to dream about even if Waverly lost herself for a long moment imagining little red-headed babies with Nicole’s dimpled smiles popping chubby cheeks, filling the air with their childish giggles.

_Don’t get ahead of yourself! Don’t get ahead of yourself!_

Not only did she not know Nicole’s thoughts on kids but they’d barely even begun a relationship. And! There was that tiny little matter of the Earp curse to take into account. Not that she didn’t believe that Wynonna could do it but the odds were depressingly bleak even with Dolls and Doc helping her.

“You look like you’re thinking too hard again.”

“Sorry,” Waverly grimaced. “Nothing to worry about. Just— stuff.” It sounded lame even to her own ears but saying she was already imagining them with kids just sounded a little _too_ much.

“The kind of stuff Wynonna never got around to telling me about before we were attacked?”

Waverly winced at the sharp tone suddenly in Nicole’s voice. She was torn. She wanted to protect Nicole but wasn’t sure how to do that when there was nowhere safe in the Ghost River Triangle. Carrying on blindly seemed to work for a lot of the populace but they weren’t on the front line like Nicole or dating an Earp.

_Were they dating? Did she get to call Nicole her girlfriend?_

Before she could get caught on that train of thought or say anything to appease her, Nicole drew in a breath and waved her off with an apologetic smile.

“It’s okay. I’m not going to push you for an explanation. It’s up to Wynonna to tell me, not you.”

Waverly reached out for her, still not knowing what to say but wanting to say something to ease the tension. But, the second interruption came in the form of their food being delivered.

While Nicole went to get it, Waverly set up some music to play at just the right volume to take the edges off any silence while that ate but not so loud that it would stop them from talking.

And they still needed to talk, Waverly knew that even if it still scared her just a little with how important it was… With how important Nicole was.

Nicole’s smile as she closed the door, locking them back in their cocoon of domestic familiarity, warmed Waverly through again and had her following her back into the kitchen to help serve up what they had ordered.

“I still don’t know how you even like this.”

“Peanut butter in sweet and sour soup takes it to a whole other level.” Smirking at Nicole’s grimace of distaste, Waverly added an extra heaped spoonful of peanut butter just to prove a point. “Try it,” she held out a spoonful of soup.

“That would be a hard pass. I would rather eat a pickle. And I _hate_ pickles,” she shuddered.

“I’ll get you to try it one day and then you will appreciate my genius.”

“I already do, Waves. Your taste, however—”

“Hey!” With her precious soup cradled in her hands, Waverly followed Nicole’s chuckles and Calamity Jane’s fluffy tail into the living room. She was all set to shoo the cat further down along the couch and fight for her place as usual but with a haughty twitch of her tail, Calamity curled up on a cushion on the chair instead and allowed Waverly to claim her spot next to Nicole.

Despite her hunger and her love of her favourite soup, which was delicious no matter what anyone else said, Waverly found her attention drifting time and again to watching Nicole as she ate. The way the pillowy softness of her lips and the long line of her throat moved as she ate and swallowed was especially fascinating. And, before she knew it, her spoon was scraping on an empty bowl and she couldn’t remember taking a single taste of it.

Even dessert, a dish of vegan ice cream Nicole kept in her freezer just for her, could have been a bowl of ice for the attention she gave it as she watched Nicole’s nimble tongue swirling patterns in spoonfuls of her own.

It was… fascinating… thrilling, stirring up feelings made had a coiling ache of liquid heat building and throbbing between her thighs, and made her nervous all at the same time for the possibilities it conjured up in her imagination.

Putting her empty dish down on the low coffee table, she slowly leaned back, shifting nervously around in her seat.

“Are you okay?”

Nicole’s scent shifted delicately, showing her confusion and concern as she placed her own bowl next to hers. It wrapped around Waverly, seeping into her and filling her up.

“Yes… and no,” Waverly shrugged.

“Talk to me, Waves.”

“I— I don’t know how to do this,” she finally admitted with a grimace of apology. “I want to! I really want to,” she whispered reassuringly, taking Nicole’s hand within her own before she could draw away. “Champ and I kind of fell into being a couple. He, actually he kind of announced I was his girlfriend one day in school after going on one date with him and I just went along with it.”

“Well, that’s—”

“I know,” she chuckled, “it was just easier at the time and he was okay as a boyfriend… back then anyway. Thing is, limited dating options in Purgatory and just falling into _that_ … I’m worried I’ll mess up the one thing I truly want.”

“Waves—”

“No. Let me get this out, Nicole,” she interrupted her before she could say something sweet.

“I’m still figuring me out and I’m kind of worried that what I did enjoy with Champ,” she winced a little, worried that any talk of sex with a man, with her ex at that, would upset Nicole. “What if I don’t enjoy sex with a woman or I just… suck… at it and can’t please you?”

She glanced up, not sure what she would see on Nicole’s face but there was just that gentle understanding she really should have known to expect from the omega.

“Whatever we do, every step of the way I will check in with you, Waverly. Nothing happens until you are ready. _Nothing_. When it comes to sex or anything sexual that applies more than ever and if at any point, _any_ , you want to stop, just one word and I will without question or judgement.”

“At any point?” Waverly arched a brow at her challengingly.

“Even if I was having an orgasm. The one thing I want from you is for you to keep talking to me… and I don’t mean sexy talk, though I do like that,” she grinned. You know your body better than I do, Waverly. Help me make you feel good. There’s no point in me going in full force with two fingers and sucking your clit like a vacuum if you need a slower touch with three fingers or just one, and you prefer just a tongue flick to one side of your clit.”

Waverly’s brain shortcircuited, her clit giving a heavy throb as each word coming from Nicole’s mouth painted an image in her mind that felt like Nicole was actually touching her.

She was still nervous but it had shifted on the scale towards excitement at the thought of exploring herself and exploring with Nicole.

Her omega.

So beautiful, giving and strong.

Waverly didn’t deliberately try to alter her scent but, she caught the way Nicole took a deeper breath and smelt the way Nicole’s vanilla scent thickened with the honeyed sweetness of desire that matched her own.

Suddenly, Waverly was done waiting for what she wanted.

“And what if I wanted to see what works right now?” As she spoke, Waverly moved until she was straddled across Nicole’s lap, her knees planted on the couch on either side of her thighs. Her position rucked the tight skirt she had put on to visit Nicole higher until it exposed more than it covered. She could feel the heat and strength of Nicole’s body pressed against her, radiating out from where their thighs touched and from where Nicole’s elegantly-fingered hands fluttered and stroked along her exposed thighs to her hips.

Nicole’s eyes grew dark and heavy in an instant, the cocky smile she had first seen at _Shorty’s_ back in full, devastating force. With a gentle but firm tug on the soft length of Nicole’s hair, Waverly arrested her move to lean forward for a kiss and claimed her lips for herself. She swallowed Nicole’s moan and filled her mouth with a growl as she pushed her back into the softness of the couch cushions.

Waverly had never thought of herself as possessive but there was definitely something about Nicole that called to the primal part of herself which beat with a wild hunger during the height of her rut.

“Is this okay?” she questioned, tugging slightly on Nicole’s hair for emphasis.

“God. More than,” Nicole moaned huskily.

Waverly pulled steadily harder, arching Nicole’s head back and exposing the line of her throat to her hungry gaze and lips. Nicole’s hands were like brands of fire against her as they moved around and cupped her ass. Her fingers dug into her flesh as Waverly nipped lightly at her pulse, pulling her closer, spreading her thighs wider.

More! She wanted more!

“Off—” She tugged on Nicole’s sweater, suddenly frustrated with the soft fabric getting in her way.

“Are you—”

Waverly stole the question from Nicole’s mouth answering her with a hungry kiss that they moaned into.

Their passionate moan became a groan of frustration as Waverly’s phone started buzzing and ringing to a tone they both knew was Wynonna’s. Their frustrated groan became a sigh of resignation when holding their breaths and trying to wait Wynonna out was foiled by Wynonna’s determination.

“I’d—”

“Yeah—”

Waverly was all too aware of how damp with the slick of desire her panties were as she climbed off Nicole’s lap and made her way over to her coat on wobbly legs. She glared at Nicole, silencing her giggles before answering.

Before she could get a word out, Wynonna was shouting down the phone at her, forcing Waverly to draw away from it just to make sense of what her sister was saying.

“Wait! Wynonna, what do you mean, Bobo bought _Shorty’s_?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN - If my muses keep up with what they want, I will probably end up playing fast and loose with the canon timeline now that iconic couch scene is done or taking longer time jumps. I really don't want to rehash everything and... I want to get to the sexy times :D


	6. Landslide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN - Takes place during S01E11
> 
> AN2 - Shout out to GetItGirl who did the beta work for me 
> 
> AN3 - For anyone that celebrates Thanksgiving, enjoy yourselves, stay safe, maybe don't eat or be near family when reading this chapter ;)

“Uh, gotta go.” Waverly blurted out as she heard the sharp click of the bathroom door closing behind Willa’s naked form releasing her from her obligation to linger. She placed the stuffed bear, Mr Plumpkins, that she had been cradling protectively in her arms, back down on the old, pastel-green, painted dresser among all the other toys that had laid there for so many years.

The homestead had remained empty for years, abandoned after the group of revenants, known as The Seven, had attacked and she and Wynonna had gone to live with Gus and Curtis. Curtis had kept the old building in as good a shape as her could, patching holes in the roof and replacing rotting boards each spring and winter. Creatures had gotten in, of course. There were still parts of the kitchen and attic that stunk aggressively of skunk hiney no matter what Waverly sprayed and scrubbed the areas with.

In all the years since they had left there was one room that was cared for the most: Willa’s bedroom. Everything had stayed in place, covered with white sheets that had made the room look like it was inhabited with oddly shaped ghosts of the past.

An untouched shrine to the memory of a loving big sister who Waverly had never known.

It was as though everyone in Purgatory had erased Willa’s casual form of cruelty from their memories.

No one spoke ill of the dead.

Not of their father and especially not of Willa.

No one.

Waverly stared at Mr Plumpkins a moment longer, her fingers lingering over the once plush fur now matted with age and dust, and its unblinking, one-eyed stare caused by Willa’s cruel hand. A part of her wanted to cling to him and protect him from Willa, just as she had tried to as a kid but…

“Yeah, I said I'd see Nicole. Before the _Poker Spectacular_.” Waverly explained, backing away towards the door before Wynonna could verbalise the questions forming in her expressive eyes.

“What, are you and Nicole best friends now?” Wynonna frowned slightly in confusion.

Waverly paused in the open doorway, her fingers twisting together in indecision as she looked back at Wynonna. There was so much she wanted to say to her sister. So much that she wanted to tell her about who she was now. But, with Willa here, Waverly felt like a child again. The bratty kid sister caught on the outside with Wynonna sticking up for Willa and ignoring everything she was going through at her hands.

Wynonna hadn’t even remembered how Willa had used to steal Mr Plumpkins and had tortured him out of spite and for ransom. Something that had traumatised her and Wynonna was oblivious to it even happening right under her nose, just as she had with everything else in some form of sibling hero-worship when it came to the next in line to be the Earp heir.

Leaving Wynonna to try and work out just what a _Poker Spectacular_ was on her own, Waverly tiptoed past the closed bathroom door where she could hear the water running as Willa took a shower, and made her way down the stairs.

Of all the things the Ghost River Triangle could throw at them, Waverly had never even imagined that Willa being returned to them after so many years would be one of them. She was different in body and mind, her memories of who she was, what she was, splintered and lost. But, there was still an air of casual cruelty around her that made Waverly uneasy even if everyone seemed willing to overlook it again.

Waverly knew that Wynonna expected her to be excited that Willa was back and to be there for her and their sister but she just could not do it. There was still too much unresolved hurt and anger for her to sort through first and she couldn’t do that there. Not with them.

What she needed, was the quiet strength of her omega to help ground her. She needed Nicole.

With every step closer to the door, she struggled to contain her excitement for fear that someone would see and challenge her as to why she was so happy to spend time with Nicole.

Grabbing her coat and purse, she threw a quick wave and a ‘bye’ over a shoulder to Wynonna who had followed her, the same puzzled furrow creasing her brow as though she was on the verge of figuring her out, and headed out of the door.

She could feel those pesky butterflies fluttering and dancing away in her stomach again; Their wings dancing against her ribs and making her heart beat faster as she climbed into her waiting Jeep. Starting it up, she peeled away from the homestead before Wynonna could appear with some revenant- or sister-related reason for her to stay.

Even with her foot pressed flat on the floor, safe in the knowledge that there was too little traffic on their side of Purgatory for Nedley to waste his time and energy setting up a speed trap (not that Wynonna had ever paid any speeding fine she had ever gotten), the miles felt like they passed by at a crawl. Finally, her Jeep was bouncing over the rail tracks on the edge of town. However, instead of taking the turn that would lead to her usual parking spot behind _Shorty’s_ , she kept driving, barely even slowing.

The main street was quieter than usual even though _Shorty’s_ looked like it was busy thanks to the revenants now making use of it since Bobo had bought it from Gus. Waverly knew it was because most of the populace of Purgatory, the human side of it, were avoiding the area so they could ignore the fact that demons were living amongst them.

Even the Sheriff’s Department, glimpsed as she had turned onto Main Street, was in almost total darkness as though hiding from what was happening. Which, Waverly knew, wasn’t really fair of her to think. Apart from Nicole and Nedley, they were so understaffed it was a miracle they were able to do as much as they did to keep any semblance of law and order in a town that had always felt one wrong move away from slipping back into a time where people were hanged in the streets for petty crimes.

With a shake of her head, Waverly turned her gaze away from the sight of two known revenants tumbling out of _Shorty’s_ in the midst of what looked like a full-blown knife fight and drove on.

Purgatory was a small town but even though she had lived there her whole life, there were still parts of it, the more residential areas, that Waverly’d had little reason to visit. Most of her school friends who had even allowed an Earp to pass through their door had lived in the poorer, older areas of Purgatory or further afield on the ranches that were spread far and wide across the land around the town.

The house Nicole rented was in the area that passed for Purgatory’s suburbs. It was an area that Waverly had passed by but never really travelled the roads of, even though it had been built before she was born. Now though, she knew it so well that her Jeep almost steered itself down the wide, gently-winding roads lined with homes that bore little resemblance to the cookie-cutter houses they had once been.

Her heart skipped as she turned the Jeep sharply around Nicole’s cruiser, pulling up in the place left for her on the drive outside of the dark-turquoise painted house with its white painted porch rails, and turned off the engine.

If Wynonna had been paying attention, her sister would not have been at all surprised to know she was spending time with Nicole. Waverly had probably spent more time in Nicole’s cruiser under the pretence of being _on patrol_ with her than Wynonna had spent cuffed up in the back of one before she had skipped town.

Of course, Waverly’s visits to Nicole’s cruiser had _nothing_ to do with patrolling and everything to do with them exploring each other's bodies and occasionally talking.

They’d had to curtail their explorations, though, after Nedley had nearly caught them in the act. However, after a surprisingly gentle and parental look at them which had made Nicole squirm like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar, he had simply said it was nice to see them getting along, reminded Nicole she was still on duty, and then told her that Wynonna was looking for her.

That had resulted in Nicole implementing a ‘not in uniform’ rule. Which was reasonable but, as far as Waverly was concerned, a crying shame, as Nicole looked irresistibly good in uniform. Especially those khakis that hugged her hips and ass just right.

The figure that greeted her as the door swung open to welcome her inside before she could reach it was that of a very relaxed and out of uniform Nicole, dressed in a pair of charcoal, Capri pants and a loose t-shirt that almost brushed the tops of her thighs. The way she looked, and the sweet vanilla scent of Nicole’s body overlaid with the subtle scent of her body wash, enveloped Waverly, drawing her in and welcoming her home.

In the dim lighting, she could see the ends of Nicole’s loose hair glistening with beads of water that darkened the tips and soaked into the soft cotton of her dusky-blue top. Knowing Nicole and her love for routine, Waverly knew that she had showered as soon as she had gotten off duty. Just as she knew that somewhere in the house, Calamity Jane was probably busily cleaning shower water off her whiskers and paws as the cat was a sneaky minx that liked to sneak into the bathroom and peek through the shower curtain around the tub to watch her owner.

Not that Waverly was jealous of that. Nope, not her. Not in the least.

All thoughts of Calamity Jane left her mind, washed away by the fresh, minty taste of Nicole’s toothpaste upon her lips and tongue as she pulled Nicole down into a kiss that started as a gentle brush of lips and grew deep and hungry in a matter of seconds. They moaned into each other, hands grasping, bodies moving until they were forced to part before they tumbled over the arm of the couch in their eagerness.

“Hey.”

Waverly swallowed Nicole’s breathy chuckle with another kiss before breathing out a greeting of her own.

“Hi,” she smiled against Nicole’s lips. Her fingers danced along Nicole’s waist, mirroring Nicole’s touch upon her body. There was a moment of hesitation, a flare of uncertainty in how to proceed but, one thing she had learned while going on _patrol_ with Nicole was that there was nothing to fear with her.

Nicole was there for her; patient, giving, waiting for her to show she was ready for the next step.

And, even though just _seeing_ Nicole had been her intention when she had woken that morning, Waverly was about a thousand paces beyond ready to take the next step with her!

Snagging her courage and Nicole’s wrist between her fingers, she tugged her in the direction of the stairs. A question flared in Nicole’s eyes, raising her eyebrows until the dark lines nearly disappeared into her hair but, neither of them spoke as Nicole took the lead up the stairs and led them into the warmth of her bedroom.

Out of the corner of her eye, Waverly caught a brief glimpse of a garment bag hanging up. She knew it had to hold the dress Nicole had been reluctantly forced to pick out to wear for the _Poker Spectacular_ after Wynonna had delighted in pointing out that the ‘invitations,’ or ‘summons’ in Nicole’s case, had a strict dress code that didn’t allow for personal preferences that went beyond gender norms.

Waverly was one hundred percent sure that Nicole would look stunning in a dress but she couldn’t deny that she might have blacked out a little picturing Nicole wearing a tailored suit.

“Are you okay? If you’ve changed your—”

Waverly stilled her words with a finger pressed to plump lips. “Definitely, absolutely have not changed my mind. Maybe just got a teensy bit curious as to what you’ll be wearing,” she nodded towards the dress. “Any chance you’ll let me see you in it later?”

“Nope,” she grinned, “you’ll just have to wait and see it on the night.”

“Hmm, well, as long as there’s no delay in seeing what your clothes look like on the floor. Oh, god, that was corny wasn’t it?” Waverly groaned, her forehead thunking against Nicole’s shoulder in an attempt to hide her embarrassment. “That was so, so corny.”

“Cute, but maybe just a _little_ bit corny,” Nicole chuckled. “Hey—”

Following the gentle urging of Nicole’s finger hooked beneath her chin, Waverly lifted her head. The way Nicole’s eyes became limpid pools of darkness that matched the deeper, desire-roughened tone of her voice had Waverly’s knees growing weak and a liquid heat pooling between her thighs.

“I want you,” she blurted out. “But, I’m still— I’m still not sure how to— I don’t want to disappoint you, you know?”

“You never could. We will take it as slow or as fast as you need, Waves. Remember? Just talk to me, Waverly. Tell me what you need from me and it’s yours.”

“You,” Waverly purred, her courage returning under Nicole’s gentle reassurance. Running her hands up, she skimmed her fingers along the definition of Nicole’s abs.

“I want you.” Nicole’s muscles twitched and tightened beneath her touch, her head falling back, her lips parting in a breathy moan as Waverly’s hands explored further skimming across the swell of her breasts until they became entangled in her hair and pulled her forward again.

“I want you, _now_ ,” she growled out, nipping at Nicole’s lips as she surged up and claimed them again and again. She gulped down the taste of vanilla and mint caught within the heat of Nicole’s mouth as though she needed it to survive.

And, maybe she did. That was how important Nicole felt to her.

With eager hands, she tugged at Nicole’s clothes, exploring every exposed inch of flesh as it came into view with eager, fleeting touches as they moved towards the bed.

Even with the limits set by the confines of Nicole’s cruiser and the restraints set by revenants and, of course, Wynonna always on the prowl, they had long passed the point of a PG-13 relationship. However, while she knew the feel of Nicole’s breasts within her hands and even on her lips and tongue, and knew that from Nicole’s tender ministrations she could actually climax from having her nipples gently teased and sucked while her panties were lightly tugged, putting a delicious pressure upon her clit, they had never seen each other naked.

That was something Waverly was determined to change right there and then.

With a determined tug on the waist of Nicole’s pants, she eased them down enough to make room for her fingers to slip beneath, palming and squeezing the swell of her ass, pulling a gasp from Nicole as she dug her fingers in and yanked her closer.

In the warm air of the room, she could smell the thickening of Nicole’s scent as her desire rose along with her own, combining to create the finest ambrosia that she could taste on her tongue.

She wanted, _needed_ more!

_“More!”_

Their clothes fell, forgotten, to the floor, creating a trail across the room as they were discarded by eager hands that raced to expose themselves and each other. They tumbled together onto the mattress, their bodies sliding and entwining together.

Then…

Waverly’s breath caught in her throat, stolen by the sight and feel of Nicole’s naked body braced above her own. She was stunning! Waverly had known she would be, but the reality went beyond anything she could have imagined. She was all long lines and gentle curves, her tanned skin a silky soft cover over toned muscles that she ached to sink her fingers and teeth into and test her limits.

The rushed eagerness that had gotten them there slowed, bleeding out of them as each touch and kiss became languid, lingering caresses exploring each other anew now they were where they wanted to be.

Nicole checked in with her a wonderful and maddening amount that Waverly tried to protest. However, Nicole seemed to sense it every time she was about to say something. With the simple brush of a finger or a swirl of her tongue that felt like a brand across her body and soul, Nicole melted away her fear and left her ache for more. Derailing her ability to think and speak while rendering her a quivering, aching mess.

She begged and pleaded with words and actions, arching into Nicole’s body and touch when her words fell to tremulous, needy moans. Her legs parted wider in invitation as Nicole’s delicate touch skimmed along the inside of her thigh to find her wet and wanting.

With infinite care, Nicole’s fingers explored, sliding through her swollen folds, dipping inside and withdrawing, only entering, one finger slowly sinking inside when Waverly begged for it.

One finger became two that stretched her walls, creating a breath-taking, yearning ache for more that wared with the desire for that moment to never end as Nicole started moving within her.

Waverly clenched at the covers beneath her and the body above her, her breath leaving her in a rasping pant at each rolling thrust of Nicole’s hips that drove her long, elegant fingers achingly deeper. The weight of her body and press of her thigh a delicious pressure against her aching clit.

In and out.

In and out.

Curling and thrusting.

Stretching her.

Pushing her higher.

Further.

Waverly soared on a rolling, building wave until she reached the edge of the precipice and flew. Shattering into a million glittering pieces.

She drifted slowly down, her body shaking and quivering in aftershocks within Nicole’s tender embrace as she was gathered close and put back together into a form that was her own but was more alive and whole that she’d ever felt before.

Safe in the cocoon of Nicole’s body, Waverly ran her eyes and fingers over the Nicole, following the light thrown by the bedside lamp over tanned skin made flushed and dewy with perspiration. Beneath the cover Nicole had pulled over them, their legs remained tangled intimately together. The solid press of Nicole’s muscular thigh making her ache and twitch with every breath.

Her body still trembled but she already wanted more, and she could see her desire mirrored in Nicole’s steady gaze.

More!

Lifting Nicole’s hand from where it lay, still damp against her hip, Waverly brought it to her mouth and wrapped her lips around Nicole’s fingers. She moaned around the taste of her slick arousal and the vanilla of Nicole’s scent upon her searching, swirling tongue as she took her deeper. Drawing them in and out with gentle suction.

Nicole’s eyes grew impossibly darker as she watched hungrily, her body shifting beneath the covers. Grasping them with a free hand, Waverly stripped them away, tossing them off the bed as she exposed Nicole to her gaze.

_Mine!_

Releasing Nicole’s fingers from her mouth, she urged Nicole’s hand down until their joined hands brushed against the neatly trimmed curls between Nicole’s legs. She could feel the heat and slick wetness of her desire waiting for her to explore.

_Mine!_

“Show me,” Waverly demanded. She punctuated her words with a careful nip to Nicole’s kiss-swollen lips that pulled a moan from her that spilt over her lips but didn’t break skin. Tilting her head, she ran her lips and teeth along the sharp line of Nicole’s jaw and the curve of her neck until she paused where she could feel Nicole’s pulse pounding heavily against her lips. Opening her mouth, she lathed at her flesh, pulling in the sweet taste of Nicole’s scent until her mouth and tongue felt coated with it.

_Mine!_

“Touch yourself. Show me how to please you,” Waverly ordered, her voice a husky whisper she purred across Nicole’s mating gland. With a nip of her teeth and a squeeze of Nicole’s fingers, she let her know what she was asking for.

She felt emboldened by desire and Nicole, _her omega_ , in a way that was heady and almost addictive. It pulsed through her as thick as honey, beating through her veins like a war-drum.

_Mine!_

_Mine!_

_Mine!_

Waverly didn’t think it was possible to want more, to desire someone more than she did right there and then. And then, Nicole arched up into her, whispering against her lips as she moved their hands together.

“Just like this, alpha.”


End file.
